A Marriage
by RubberBandBall7
Summary: What happens when the Ministry decides to push a marriage law on all witches over 18? Will Hermione be able to overcome her fears for the 'greater good? What about the unfortunate series of events aiming to break them apart? Bad summary, sorry!
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I'm only going to do this once, so best remember it. I do not own anything you recognize, as all characters and references belong to the magical world of J. K. Rowling. I am manipulating the characters for my own personal enjoyment. **

**That is all.**

Prologue:

Hermione Granger woke with a start as she took in her surroundings through bleary eyes. A fiery mass of red was zooming around the room, looking out of place and brandishing a wooden stick at a raven haired boy, who looked equally distraught.

Hermione recognized that red hair. Recognized those popping green eyes. "Ginny? What's wrong?" Hermione said, watching as the boy backed out of the room.

Ginny turned and looked at Hermione, a fake smile plastered on her face. "Oh, you've finally woken up! I was beginning to wonder if you'd stopped breathing."

Hermione rubbed at her eyes and Ginny's features came into focus. "What time is it?" 'I usually wake up at half six,' she thought, obviously confused.

Ginny glanced at her watch, taking a little while to read the time, "'Round quarter to nine. We should really be going downstairs, Mum will have a fit if we miss the meeting!"

Hermione grudgingly pulled herself out of her comfortable and warm bed, to be greeted with the cold, wooden floor of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. She threw on the first jumper she could find and dashed out the door, wary of Ginny's menacing gaze.

"Took long enough," Ginny said impatiently.

Hermione tentatively followed Ginny down the creaky staircase, not daring to ask about what had happened with Harry earlier. She spotted Crookshanks wandering lazily about on the steps. "Crookshanks, come on, kitty," Hermione cooed. Crookshanks simply stared and turned on his heel strutting away. Hermione seemed a little put out by this, but didn't let it get to her.

"Bloody, good for nothing cat," came the distinguishable voice of one Ronald Weasley. Hermione shot him a withering look, not having the time to ask questions since she was being ushered into the kitchen by Ginny. Ron soon followed suit, not wanted to be the last in the room.

The three sat down at the crowded table of Order members, while Mrs. Weasley was passing around a tray of toast and marmalade. Naturally, Ron took more than his and Hermione's share combined, but it didn't matter since no one seemed in a mood to be eating at the moment. 'How odd, the table is always buzzing,' thought Hermione, observing the large group of quiet people. She noticed that Dumbledore was missing. 'He must be busy,' she thought. 'If he's not here it can't be _that _important, can it?' She stole a glance at Harry, and he looked preoccupied fiddling his hands under the table and avoiding Ginny's glare. Hermione smirked inwardly at this, as Ginny can be quite scary when she loses her temper.

Kingsley Shackelbot, newly appointed Minister of Magic, stood up holding a passage from the Daily Prophet. "The Ministry has passed a new law, though I'm sure most of you know what it is," Kingsley said gravely as the Order members all nodded. All of them except for Hermione. 'What am I missing here? What do they know that I don't?' she thought with a wary look at the Prophet. Kingsley sighed and continued on with his speech "All witches and wizards over the age of eighteen and under the age of fifty are to be married within one month. The Ministry has decided that if someone has not found a suitable person to marry, they will be more than happy to assign one to them." He looked pointedly at Hermione, and all of the others soon turned to look at her too.

"What are you looking at me for? I'm not even eighteen yet! So what's this got to do with those looks you're giving me?" defended Hermione.

Professor McGonagall spoke up next, "Miss Granger, do you recall the use of a Time-Turner in your third year?" she asked.

"Yes, but what's that got-" she sputtered. "Oh," was all she could make out.

McGonagall looked down, but continued speaking, "I hoped you would catch on to that."

Ron looked at his professor pointedly, looking as though he'd been hit with a Confundus charm.

McGonagall seemed to catch his confused face and explained, "Miss Granger repeated her third year by going back in time. Legally she is eighteen and eligible for the Marriage Law, and Death Eaters are just waiting to send in their 'application' forms to use her brains for Lord Voldemort's advantage," she said sadly.

"Why can't she marry me?" Ron yelled, looking outraged.

Mr. Weasley sighed and spoke, "Ron, I'm afraid there's more that we haven't specified. A Muggleborn witch cannot marry a Pureblood-" There were several gasps and one outburst from Tonks, "That's ludicrous! Sexist and immoral! She's no less of a witch because she has Muggle parentage!"

Everyone seemed to have forgotten that Hermione was sitting at the table, since she'd been so quiet. "What do we do?", Hermione spoke softly, barely above a whisper.

All of the heads snapped towards Hermione, surprised she was taking the news so well.

Kingsley looked at her, still clutching the paper, "Since you are still in school, your husband would have to be close to you and share sleeping chambers with you. If you didn't you'd spend 10 years in Azkaban as a punishment for not following the law, probably more since you're Muggleborn," he paused and started up again, "Remus Lupin will be back teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts and we have decided he will be your best choice."

Hermione looked simply unfazed at this, while Lupin and Ron looked quite glum.

Molly Weasley spoke next, "Hermione, dear, you're taking this very well!"

"Well, why not? We can just dissolve the marriage after the law has been revoked. No harm done."

Everyone except for Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione shifted uncomfortably.

"Hermione, do you know much about Wizarding Wedding ceremonies?" Lupin asked.

"No, actually, I'd just assumed they were like Muggle ones. I've never done much reading into it, but I've heard we're due to study it this term in Mug-" Hermione was cut off by Lupin mid-sentence.

"Wizard Marriage bonds are irreversible. You'll be stuck with me for the rest of your life, at least until one of us dies." Lupin put his head in his hands and thought, 'It'll ruin her life. Who would want an old, poor werewolf like me?'

And that was when Hermione Granger fainted.

A/N: This is my very first piece of FanFiction and I heard that it's right of passage to make a Marriage Law, and so that's what I did! I'd love a review, and constructive criticism. This chapter is short, but the next ones will steadily get longer since I'm still getting used to writing FanFiction. Thanks!


	2. Explanations

Chapter 1

"Laid it on a little thick, mate?" Sirius joked with Remus, who looked like he was having a mental breakdown.

'I knew no one would want an old werewolf like me, but to faint? Am I really that ugly?' Remus thought, significantly lowering his self confidence.

"Calm down, Moony. It was just a joke. To lighten the mood?" Sirius explained as he noticed how distraught his best friend looked.

Remus shot him a glare, and Sirius took that as his cue to leave him alone to his thoughts.

Sirius padded over to where Mrs. Weasley was hovering over Hermione, franticly dabbing her forehead with a cool cloth. She looked fairly flustered, and Sirius wondered if she had tried 'rennervate' on Hermione yet. Sirius pointed his wand at Hermione's face and muttered the spell. Her eyes immediately sprang open and Sirius was looking quite smug.

Hermione saw Mrs. Weasley running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

"Mrs. Weasley what are you doing?" asked Hermione out of sheer curiosity.

Mrs. Weasley looked at her like a deer in Muggle headlights.

"Oh! You've woken up!"

Hermione felt very deja vu-ish. 'Hadn't this happened that very morning,' she mused. Hermione was laughing to herself until she remembered what had happened earlier. Her expression changed from humorous to ashen faster than Harry could catch a snitch.

Hermione felt horrible. She knew Lupin would be thinking that she fainted because of his condition. She had really fainted out of shock, a common thing for her. She swung her legs off of the sofa and she slowly walked over to where Lupin was sitting with his face in his hands. Hermione wordlessly sat down beside him and he looked up. She put her hand on his knee and they sat like that in silence for at least 10 minutes, which felt like hours to both of them.

Hermione finally spoke, breaking the silence with her voice "I just wanted to say thank you and I'm sorry. You didn't have to do this for me and I feel terrible for putting you in this position."

Lupin looked surprised. "Why are you thanking me? I've just ruined your life. You'll be an outcast for being seen with me."

"You listen here, you're doing me a favor and I'm eternally grateful that it's you and not some Death Eater or Snape," she shuddered but continued "we're already friends, just friends that get to live with each other."

Lupin's face lightened considerably, and he smiled at Hermione. She smiled back and pulled him in for a very unexpected hug. He was still as stone until he realized what she was doing. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around her back, feeling quite awkward.

All of the Order members were watching with stupid smiles on their faces. Well, all but one.

"What are you looking at?" Ron exclaimed angrily to the hoard of people.

Sirius smirked and whispered something about being jealous to Harry, who laughed but still looked fairly squirmy.

Lupin and Hermione broke apart and looked up at everyone, feeling embarrassed and exposed. Hermione smiled a bit and got up to join Ginny who had just gone upstairs.

Hermione jumped up the stairs, taking two at a time and clicked open the door to the bedroom she and Ginny had shared for the past 3 years. She spotted Ginny sitting on her bed and plopped down directly across from her.

"Talk," was all Hermione said, but Ginny seemed to understand by the curious look on her face.

"Harry and I had a row," Ginny explained.

"And," assisted Hermione.

"That's all. People fight."

Hermione knew she wasn't getting anything from Ginny and slowly backed out of the room and hopped over to Sirius.

"You seem to know about everything that goes on in here. Spill about Ginny and Harry," Hermione demanded.

Sirius got a mischievous smile on his face and said "Harry offered himself to marry you instead of Remus, but Ginny wouldn't have it. She pulled the 'forever and always' card and hexed Harry pretty bad."

Hermione cringed. Ginny's Bat-Bogey hexes were not fun to receive. "I can't blame her, really. She's been pining over Harry for years now, since she was ten and now she's got him, I doubt she would want to give him up," Hermione reasoned.

Sirius cocked an eyebrow and muttered something about women and never understand while he walked away.

Hermione giggled. 'Isn't he supposed to be a womanizer? You can't attract women without learning how their minds work,' she mused.

She spotted Snape standing in the corner. 'Why is he always so lonely? Maybe I'll attempt to talk with him,' she thought.

Hermione strode over to the corner that housed her Potions Master.

"Hello," she started, but stopped when he opened his mouth to say something.

"Congratulations on your engagement," he said with a smirk, as if he thought it was for his personal entertainment.

Hermione huffed and continued speaking "Do you know why the Death Eaters can request my marriage? I was under the impression that they were all pureblooded."

"Ms. Granger, you should remember that the Dark Lord himself is a half-blood as well," he explained gravely.

Hermione's eyes bulged and her mouth dropped open slightly in shock.

"Ms. Granger I would advise you to close your mouth unless you want to the Weasley twins to test out their newest product on you," he drawled.

Hermione ignored him and started talking again "But I'm a Muggleborn! He wouldn't even want to touch me!"

"Very few understand the Dark Lord's mind, and I am fortunately not one of them. I would assume he wants you for your brains and beauty." he replied.

"Was that a compliment, Sir?" Hermione smirked.

"Fact," he responded and swept away, his robes billowing behind him.

"Drama queen," Hermione muttered as she went to join Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen. On her way she passed Harry and Ginny snogging. 'I guess they made up,' she thought to herself, smiling inwardly.

As soon as she stepped into the kitchen she was ambushed by the female members of the Order.

"When's the wedding going to be?"

"The real question is WHERE is the wedding going to be?"

"At Hogwarts, of course!"

"We have so little time for planning!"

"How about your dress?"

And for the second time that day, Hermione Granger fainted.


	3. Call me Remus

The women of Grimmauld Place were still chattering away, not realizing that Hermione had fainted yet again.

Her eyes opened after about a minute and she got up, still completely invisible to everyone. She walked over to make some tea, but was stopped by Ron, who pulled her away from the hoard of women.

He had a grin on his face as he handed her a cup of tea he had made a few minutes before. She sipped the tea. Whenever Ron made tea there was always too much sugar and not enough milk. 'His intentions were good,' she thought as her face puckered from the sugary drink.

"Thanks," she muttered. She was never the party planning, girly type.

Ron was chortling at her flustered expression. "Mum's finally got a wedding to plan. You're not getting out that easy."

Hermione groaned and murmured something about eloping, which made Ron's grin spread, and it looked like it was eating his face. Hermione giggled inwardly at the thought.

"Sorry, Hermione," Ron said.

"What are you sorry for? This is the Ministry's doing, not yours," she explained.

"Sorry that I'm a Pureblood," Ron explained, confused at the look on Hermione's face.

Hermione burst out laughing after trying to hold it in.

"Thanks, Ron. I needed that," she said, still laughing. Hermione got up and walked back into the kitchen, determined to keep her head this time. She would ask Mrs. Weasley to plan the wedding for her. It would probably be her dream since Ginny would never let her control anything of hers.

"Mrs. Weasley, I think you'd be a superb wedding planner and I was wondering if you could he-"

"Of course dear! Don't worry anything about the wedding! I'll take care of everything," Mrs. Weasley said.

Hermione looked very relieved. She trusted all of the Weasleys, well with the exception of Fred an George, and she knew the wedding would be just fine with Mrs. Weasley planning it and telling everyone what to do.

She sat there listening to Mrs. Weasley's ideas for the wedding and the dress. They decided on red and gold for the decor, to honour their house, Gryffindor. Hermione was none too please with the fact that she had to go dress shopping and she couldn't just wear the dress she wore to the Yule Ball in fourth year. "Oh, Dear, it won't fit you. You've matured so much over the years," is what Mrs. Weasley had to say. They were due to go dress shopping for Hermione and dress robe shopping for Lupin the following weekend, before school began the next month.

Kingsley had approached her and told her for the umpteenth time that they only had a month to get married, or she was 'up for sale', as he put it.

Harry clapped Lupin on the back in the sitting room, congratulating him on the marriage.

"Could you have gotten a better deal? This is Hermione we're talking about! Any bloke would be lucky to have her!" Harry had said, while Sirius blubbered about being single forever. 'Sometimes I think that Sirius needs to find a nice girl and settle down for once,' Lupin thought once in a while.

Lupin did think he got off fairly easy with Hermione. They could engage in real conversations without straying to Quidditch or Weasley's Wizard Wheezes after a while. She really was a match for his intelligence. He was usually grateful for when he got to sit near her around the Weasleys and the rest of the Order. She was very easy to talk to and highly intelligent, so there was never a dull moment between them. Lupin felt fairly lecherous as he wondered if she was as lively in the bedroom as she is in her studies. He shook his head, hoping no one noticed how out of it he had been.

Sirius had butted in his train of thought with his booming voice.

"Since the birds are planning out the wedding, what do you say we start planning out your bachelor party? Harry will do a really good job with it!"

"Did you just volunteer me to plan his whole stag?" Harry questioned.

"Only because you'll do a wonderful job of it," Sirius said, while grinning like a kid in a candy store.

Harry glared at Sirius but decided, since Lupin was a good mate, he would organize it anyways.

"I really don't need nor want a party, Padfoot," Lupin said.

Sirius face dropped and it looked like he was going to have a temper tantr-

"YOU CAN'T NOT HAVE A BACHELOR PARTY, MOONY! THERE WILL BE FIREWHISKEY AND GIRLS AND DANCING AND GIRLS AND SHOTS AND GIRLS AN-," Lupin cut him off.

"No means no, Sirius, but you're welcome to have a party anyways."

"Fine. Shots here with the men of the Order? Happy?" Sirius reasoned.

Lupin rolled his eyes and got up to see how Hermione was doing. As soon as he walked through the door, like Hermione, all of the Order women started harassing him about dress robes and rings. 'Shit! Why couldn't I have stayed away from the kitchen?' he thought. He felt a small hand grip his wrist and yank him forcefully away from the women, who were now bickering on the bridesmaid dresses. He stumbled into the garden as he realized it was Hermione who rescued him from scary wedding planning beasts.

Hermione must have noticed his expression and spoke just the words he'd been thinking, "I know. I'd rather go off and elope somewhere! I would very much like to wear jeans and a jumper and be done with it," she said.

Lupin couldn't believe his luck. First, Hermione was very easy going about everything. Second, she was wonderful to engage in conversation with. Third, she loved to read and study just like him. And fourth, she was extremely beautiful and sincere. What he'd done to deserve a girl like that, he hadn't a clue, but he silently thanked Merlin for it in his mind.

"But you know Molly. She'll jump at any reason to plan a party. Just last week Sirius learned how to flip a pancake and she wanted to have a celebration. For flipping a pancake. She was born to play Mother Hen," Remus explained with a smile.

"I think we'll get along just fine, Professor."

"Please, call me Remus when we're not in class," Lupin said.

She did a Muggle salute "Aye, aye, Remus!"

That was one of the first times he had seen her joke around since Voldemort was declared back. He cracked another smile and laughed inwardly.

"So do you think that we'll be sharing your quarters or mine?" she asked.

"Your quarters? I don't think I'm very comfortable sharing a room with five teenage girls," he smirked.

"Didn't you hear? I've been made Head Girl! So that means, no, I never have to share a room with _them_ again," she said with a broad grin.

'Wow! Head Girl. I remember being Head Boy. The privileges were wicked, but not so much the responsibilities,' Lupin thought.

"Well congratulations, Head Girl Hermione," he exclaimed as he pulled her in for another, less-awkward hug. She giggled at the title and snuggled into him. If anyone asked, they'd deny it, but they sat there holding each other for a little less than twenty minutes. When they finally broke apart, Hermione told him about her worries of who would be Head Boy, and how she hoped it wasn't Draco Malfoy or she'd probably end up punching him again. He had raised his eyebrow skeptically when she mentioned physical contact, but he brushed it off because the boy probably deserved it.

Towards the end of the day, Hermione had had a pretty good time chatting with Lup- Remus. She had replayed to Ginny the days events and Ginny looked simply ecstatic.

"I knew there was always something going on between you," Ginny said giddily.

Hermione looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that I've seen the way you two look at each other, even before today your attraction was obvious."

Hermione was flabbergasted. Did Ginny really think that they liked each other more than friends? She had never really thought of Remus more than a friend, was there a possibility they could be more than friends? Aside from the sham marriage, of course?

"Remus and I-" Ginny cut her off.

"Ooh, so it's Remus now? Not Professor Lupin anymore? Although in bed I wond-" Now it was Hermione's turn to butt in.

"GINNY!" Hermione screeched.

"Sorry. Overactive imagination, you know," Ginny apologized. "That aside, what are you going to do for the wedding?"

"Oh, that reminds me! Ginny, will you please, please be my Maid of Honour?"

Ginny looked like she was about to cry and enveloped Hermione in a bear hug that reminded her of Hagrid.

"Oh, of course! You know, my red hair will go perfectly with the gold!" Ginny continued on, and it didn't look like she was going to stop anytime soon.

Hermione Granger was in for a long night.

A/N: Review? :D Look at that little button down there - it's calling you! _'Press me! Press me!'_


	4. Misconceptions

Chapter 3

_Breathe in, breathe out. _

_Right foot, left foot. Keep marching. March. March. March._

_Oh, right. And breathe. _

_She anxiously walked down the aisle with Harry, spotting the man who was here for the same purpose as her. Her heart began to thump loudly, and she wondered if he could hear it. Probably. Damn werewolf. _

_As she approached the alter, she looked at the back of the sandy haired man in fancy dress robes. She didn't realize, but a huge dopey smile was plastered on her face._

_The man turned around, and her smile turned into a look of pure terror._

_She didn't remember his eyes being red. His nostrils being slits. His face being whiter than liquid-paper. _

_This was Voldemort._

Remus Lupin in his cozy room in Number 12, Grimmauld Place was awoken by a piercing noise. "Weasleys and their experiments," he muttered while grabbing his wand off of his side table. He swung his legs over his bed and pushed his blanket back.

He heard the noise again. His werewolf senses kicked in and he realized that this was not a Weasley product, but in fact a woman screaming. His eyes widened and he dashed out of the room and followed the sound, which led him to the door of Hermione and Ginny's shared room.

"Alohomora!" he said, and the door unlocked and swung open. He saw Hermione writhing on her bed and Ginny was trying to get her to wake up.

Remus let out a breath he didn't know he was holding as he walked over to Hermione. It was just a nightmare.

Ginny was shaking the daylights out of her, but Hermione wouldn't budge. 'Deep sleeper,' he thought with an inward smile.

He told Ginny to move away for a minute and he used the "Rennervate" spell to wake her up while holding one of her hands.

Her face lightened and her eyes snapped open and she saw about three-quarters of Number 12, Grimmauld Place's residents standing outside of her door, confused looks on their faces.

And then she noticed Remus. She cracked a smile and mouthed "Thank you."

He winked in response and turned around to face the group by the door. "Nightmare," he said, and everyone understood and trudged back to their respective bedrooms groggily. It _was _only half three in the morning, after all.

"Good night girls," he said with a backwards glance when he reached the door.

"Good night Professor Lupin," rang Ginny's high voice.

"G'night Remus," came Hermione, who still looked half asleep.

The door clicked and Ginny took that as an initiative to start talking "What was _that _about?" she asked with a grin on her face.

"I had a dream that I was getting married," she started. With a hushed voice she added "To Voldemort. It was horrible!"

Ginny's eyebrows raised into her hairline, but she just pushed the piece of information aside. "I meant when Professor Lupin came in. Even before he woke you up your face totally calmed when he held your hand. Held. Your. Hand!" Ginny exclaimed, looking giddy. She then continued on with dreaded wedding talk that she seemed to enjoy, but didn't notice the glazed look on Hermione's face or the slight winces she made when it came to dress shopping.

Hermione didn't understand Ginny.

After about half an hour, Hermione drifted off to sleep again, and realized that Ginny was still talking about the wedding.

As Remus left the girls' room, he heard them chatting away already. He rolled his eyes with a smirk 'Girls,' he thought.

He was just down the hall when he picked up their voices again. He caught the words "dream", "married" and "horrible".

His heart sank down to his feet. She had had a dream about getting married to him and she woke up screaming. Those terrible thoughts that Hermione had gotten rid of earlier came flooding back.

"You're just an ugly, old werewolf. You don't deserve happiness, you can't even hold down a job," the thoughts taunted him.

Those voices followed him into his dreams, more like nightmares, where he was being rejected and laughed at by… Hermione? He rolled over and fell into a deep, undisturbed sleep.

Hermione woke up bright and early the next day with an energy she didn't know she possessed. She looked at her Wizarding clock; 5:45 AM, Saturday.

Saturday?

Saturday!

"Ah, shit…" she mumbled, and pulled a pillow over her face; the energy she had suddenly depleted.

Today was dress shopping day.

Ginny was running around the room, wearing just her bra and a pair of Muggle jeans. Her head turned and she saw Hermione awake before she could pretend to be sleeping again.

"What should I wear?" Ginny exclaimed, looking extremely nervous.

Hermione raised a hand and summoned one of her own shirts. She had always thought Ginny would look good in it and she had complimented it when Hermione had bought it and overtime she wore it. It was a pale blue babydoll with silver stitching.

Ginny's eyes widened as it came flying towards her. She caught it with ease, due to her Quidditch skills and practically screamed thank you thirty times.

Hermione wondered why she was having trouble with her clothes today, it was just like any other day except for the fact that they were going wedding shopping. She shrugged it off and walked over to the adjoining bathroom to take a shower. She grabbed her usual fluffy towel and stripped down. Her favourite thing about the Wizarding World was the showers. When you step in, they shower heads adjust in pressure and heat according to the temperature outside and your mood.

The pink loofa that she always used didn't seem to be in the shower, so she stepped out, sopping wet. She searched for it in the drawers but it wasn't there. "Accio loofa!" she tried, but luck didn't seem to be on her side. She grudgingly stepped back into the shower and the water was perfect for about 30 seconds, and then turned freezing cold. "What in the name of Merlin?" she screamed.

She quickly soaped, shampooed and conditioned and got out of the shower as fast as she could. Thank Merlin for those hair charms Ginny showed her. One dried her hair, another smoothed it and a separate one got rid of body hair so she didn't have to waste time shaving.

She threw on her terry robe and padded back into the bedroom. She spotted Ron sitting on her bed and he looked guilty.

"So you were the one who turned the water cold and took my loofa," she said with a smile.

"Sorry, 'Mione. I just needed to talk to you," he started.

"Shoot," she prompted.

"Well, I know you're kind of marrying Lupin now, but I still really, really like you and I was hoping we could have a go again…" he trailed off, looking embarrassed.

"Ronald," she said and she put her hand on his arm "you know that I love you," his ears perked up "but as a brother. We've just been through so much together I can't see us as anything but best friends forever."

He looked crestfallen, so she leaned in to kiss him on the cheek to make him feel better, and he turned his face and met her lips with his.

Both of their eyes widened to the size of tea cups, but they kissed anyway for about 10 seconds. When they finally pulled away, Hermione looked like she was going to hyperventilate.

"I'm so sorry!" they both said at the same time.

After about a moment of silence, they broke out into a fit of giggles at the stupidity of the whole kiss.

Remus woke up at half five on Saturday morning. He had never really been a morning person, but he was fine after he got his dose of caffeine, usually in the form of tea or coffee.

He took his sweet time in the shower that morning, thinking over his dreams and thoughts and decided to go clear it out with Hermione following his shower.

He stepped out and dressed in his usual attire of plain trousers, an oxford and worn robes.

Remus opened his door and walked into the hallway, straight across to Hermione's room. He felt a turning in his stomach, and thought it was just because he was hungry. He brushed it off and noticed Hermione's door was open.

He seemed to be on an eavesdropping streak, but it wasn't really his fault. With his werewolf hearing, there wasn't much you could miss.

"You know that I love you," came a female voice. Hermione!

He looked into the room and saw… Hermione kissing Ron wearing only a bathrobe? He tore his eyes away from the door and felt a pang in his heart, which he also brushed off because of his need for caffeine.

As he was gloomily walking down the stairs, he heard laughing. Ron and Hermione again. 'Why is it that every time I go near her door I hear and see things that I'm not supposed to?' he thought.

He walked into the kitchen and Molly passed him a mug of hot tea. He nodded and smiled at her and sat down at the usually crowded kitchen table. No one usually got up until 7 or 8 AM except for Molly, Ginny and Hermione except on special occasions.

Ginny decided to break the silence. "We're going dress shopping with Hermione today! Have you any dress robes for the wedding?" she asked innocently.

"I have some burgundy ones in my closet, actually," he replied, feeling glum.

Ginny raised a skeptical eyebrow. "What's eating you?" she asked boldly.

Remus smiled at her antics. "Nothi-" he started, but was interrupted by someone entering the kitchen. He turned to look at them and saw both Hermione and Ron looking flushed.

The smile instantly fell off of his face and Ginny gave him a knowing grin. 'Shit. Shit, shit shit! This was not what he needed. Ginny probably thought he had some crush on Hermione. Stupid scheming Weasleys,' he thought with a very out of character scowl on his smooth shaven face.

Hermione pulled up a chair right next to him and began spreading marmalade on her toast. She spilled some on her hand and brought it to her mouth and licked it off. Remus found that he couldn't take his eyes away from the sight and felt aroused.

What the bloody hell was wrong with him?

He looked away quickly, hoping that no one saw. He would have to keep his distance if he wanted to keep away this little… problem.

Meanwhile, Ron was piling eggs and bacon onto his toast and topped it with another slice. He shoved the whole thing in his mouth and made obscene eating noises that made Remus cringe.

"Honestly, Ronald. That's disgusting! How are you supposed to find a girl like that?" Hermione exclaimed, and Remus felt a glimmer of something which lightened his face considerably.

"Lavender will take me," Ron said through his food, with a grin.

"Yes, I do suppose Lavender would take anyone, for that matter," Hermione said smartly.

"In that case, I'll owl her right now!"

Hermione rolled her eyes while laughing as Ron ran to go fetch Pigwidgeon.

Remus frowned "I thought you two were seeing each other," he said confused.

Hermione made a barfing motion. "Eurgh! Kissing him is like kissing your brother!"

"I'll be sure to ask Sirius about that," he joked.

Hermione suddenly broke into a fit of laughter. He didn't think it was that funny, but maybe there was some meaning behind it or an inside joke he didn't know about. He smiled at the musical sound of her laugh.

Ginny had a grin on her face. 'Oh no. I know that look. Sirius and James had it all the time before they pulled a prank,' he thought. He suddenly wiped the smile off of his face and abruptly got up from the table, thanking Molly for breakfast.

"What was that all about?" asked Hermione

"Who knows," Ginny answered with yet another knowing grin.

A/N: Thank you so much to those who reviewed. Whenever I would read Fanfic's, the author would rave about how amazing it feels to have a new review, and now I completely understand!

**DramioneLover123 **- I took your idea into account, but kind of.. twisted it a bit! Thanks for reviewing so much :)

**evil-vile-kitty **- Oh, thank you! You have no idea how much that means to me.

Any suggestions for the next chapters? What should happen at the wedding? -raises eyebrows suggestively-


	5. The One

Chapter 4

"Girls! We have to go in five!" came Mrs. Weasley's booming voice.

"BE RIGHT DOWN!" Tonks yelled.

"Just a minute, Mum!" Ginny called.

Hermione was already downstairs by the fire, pacing back and forth. She had been like this for about 15 minutes already.

Remus watched her bite her lip and walk in front of the fire, laying his head against the doorframe with a smile on his face.

Hermione was dreading dress shopping. Why she couldn't just wear her school robes, she'd never know. Ginny and Mrs. Weasley insisted on taking Hermione to Muggle London to find a dress there, since no one was supposed to know that she was already 'engaged'. It felt so weird to her to think that. 'I'm engaged. I'm engaged!' she would think, and disappointment would flood her body. She was _supposed_ to be in love. _Supposed _to be sitting with her Mother, squealing like little girls over the ring. _Supposed _to be out of school with a steady job. She would never have those things. Hermione wished for her Mother to be here, to help celebrate. It simply wasn't possible though, becau-

A loud crash interrupted her train of thought.

'Tonks,' she thought, smiling inwardly.

The 4 ladies lined up by the fireplace, each clutching a handful of Floo powder. "Muggle London!" they all shouted, stepping into the green flames after throwing their powder.

Hermione stumbled around once she got to Muggle London. They were in a back alley. Charming.

"Now, girls, if you'll just follow me the bridal store is just around the corner," said Mrs. Weasley.

Hermione was thanking Merlin that she chose to wear shorts and a tank top that day. She blended in and it was searing hot outside, since it was August.

After about 4 minutes of walking, they arrived at a store with big glass doors and a huge display of dresses. Mrs. Weasley buzzed the door-bell and the door swung open almost immediately.

"Can I help you?" the woman said, peeking her head out of the door.

"Yes, hello. We have an appointment under," Mrs. Weasley looked down at the piece of paper she was holding "Lupin," she finished. Hermione's jaw dropped. 'Oh, right. I am kind of Mrs. Lupin now,' she thought.

The woman's face shifted into a big, fake smile instantly. "Oh, I'll take you to Anna," she said.

"Anna?" Tonks asked, as she tripped over a decorative plant.

"Yes, Anna. Apparently she's the best worker here," Mrs. Weasley said with a small smile.

"Where're your dress robes?"

"What?"

"I said, 'where are your dress robes'," Harry clarified.

"Oh! I'll, uh, I'll just go and fetch them," Remus responded, looking confused. He almost tripped on the stairs, but caught himself quickly. 'Why am I so out of it today?' he thought. 'Must be because of the full moon tomorrow,' he reassured himself.

He reached into his wardrobe and pulled out an old pair of maroon robes from the back. He looked at them and felt tears welling up in his eyes. The last time he had worn these was to James and Lily's wedding.

He shook the tears away and walked back down the stairs, wondering what Harry needed them for.

Harry saw him at the top of the stairs and summoned his dress robes straight from his hand, and caught them smoothly. Remus corked an eyebrow suspiciously but left him to his devices and went to sit back on the armchair he was reading on before Harry had interrupted him.

Harry took them into the kitchen, Sirius and a gaggle of Weasley boys following him. Remus knew he should care about the robes, but he really didn't. He'd just reverse whatever dumb spells they'd put on them later.

"So, what's the plan?" asked Ron, pointing his chin towards Remus's dress robes.

"We're testing out," started George.

"A new project on them," finished Fred.

"What will it do?" inquired Sirius.

"It's supposed to be stain repellent," said Fred.

"Cooling," added George

"Calming,"

"And make it look,"

"Newer than when you bought it," ended Fred.

Harry's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. "However did you manage _that _and what do you call it?"

"It hasn't a name yet,"

"And a wizard never reveals their secrets."

Harry looked put-out, but recovered fairly quickly.

Fred pulled a small box out of his pocket, resized it to about the size of Crookshanks and stuffed the dress robes in it.

"You sure this will work?" questioned Ron.

The twins looked at each other before responding at the same time "Nope."

They tapped their wands on the box and it looked like it was breathing. Stretched, contracted, stretched, contracted. It carried on like this for a good five minutes.

Harry was starting to look nervous, 'Why did I let them do this? What if the robes get ruined?' he thought, chewing the inside of his cheeks.

Ding!

All of the boys eyed it anxiously, and Sirius was the only one who made a movement. He yanked it out of the Crookshanks-sized-box and everyone gasped at the results.

The old robes were back to their glorious state. The red was richer and bolder, while the golden stitching gleamed like a freshly polished Firebolt.

Remus heard a group of gasps, and immediately thought the worst 'Oh, shit! They've ruined my robes! I should have stopped them. Molly's going to hex me so bad when she finds out,' he thought nervously.

He made his way to the kitchen, and yanked open the door. On the table surrounded by the boys were the finest dress robes he had ever seen. He remembered buying these with Sirius almost 20 years ago, and spending a very large amount on them. It was his best friends wedding, of course.

George caught him gawking by the door and yelled 'Oi! Lupin! Go try these on!"

Remus was too astonished to speak, let alone move. Sirius was beginning to get bored, like he does constantly. He waved his wand and in a second and a flurry of colours, Remus was wearing the beautiful robes. He looked down and felt the sleeve. It was like a wondrous combination between silk and velvet.

Remus thanked them constantly for the rest of the day, he was so happy.

Now he could only pray Hermione was having an easy time like he was.

"I don't want to try on anymore dresses. Can't we just get the last one?" Hermione whined to no one in particular. Anna didn't show up and they were having a hell of a time, Ginny, Tonks and Mrs. Weasley fighting over which dresses she should and shouldn't try. So much for reliable.

"The last one had frills. You _hate_ frills," came Ginny's response. She walked up to Hermione, holding a sea of dresses in her arms. This one's sleeves were too long, that one's neck wasn't deep enough, this one's colour was off, that one has too big of a train… It just went on, and on, and on.

By the 7th dress, Hermione was starting to get a little restless. She trudged out of the changing stall and stood on the pedestal. 'I feel like an inanimate doll. Modelling on a block for a quick wedding that isn't even real,' Hermione thought. 'I wish it _were _real. Whoa. Where did that come from?' She shook it off and stared into her reflection, jaw dropping about a centimetre.

She put her hand to her heart and took a deep breath. She felt a slight wetness in her eyes and her moment was interrupted by Tonks "Look, she's crying! This is the one, right Hermione? It looks beautiful," she rambled.

Ginny stared at Hermione, eyes wide.

Mrs. Weasley was spilling tears all down her cheeks as her smile ate her face.

This was the one.

"Boys, we're home!" yelled Hermione.

"Thank Merlin. I'm starving! What took so long, Mum?" asked Ron, looking famished.

"Finding a dress is like finding a man, Ron. You go through lots of duds, but eventually find the one for you," came Ginny's wise response that left Ron speechless. He was probably thinking that _he _was one of those duds. 'Oh, well. He deserves it,' thought Ginny. Ron could be a right prat sometimes.

"Well, lets see it!" exclaimed Sirius.

Hermione was just about to pull it out of the bag when Tonks stopped her.

"We can't show you! You'll let Remus see and the whole tradition will be ruined!" she argued.

"Screw tradition," mumbled Hermione just loud enough for Remus to pick up.

He smirked at her, because she was just like him. He would rather go to the Ministry and have a quickie ceremony, but he thought 'Hey, she'll only have one wedding. Why not make it enjoyable for her and me.'

Hermione pushed her wedding bag into Tonks's arms and plopped down on the armchair beside Remus. He gave her a sympathetic look and bookmarked his page. "How was shopping?" he asked, a small smirk developing on his face.

"Horrid," she said simply, relaxing into the comfortable armchair. "What have you done today?" she wondered out loud.

"Oh, we spent hours working on my dress robes to make them presentable," he humoured her. Why not? It seemed to work as it brought her out of the funk she was in.

She eyed his book and said "Is that _A Midsummer Night's Dream_?" she asked hesitantly.

"I'd assume you're well acquainted with Shakespeare, Queen Hermione. And yes, it is," he replied with a mischievous smile. She let out a melodic laugh that sounded like bells to Remus's ears.

"I didn't know you read Muggle," she said, the laugh still etched on her face.

They spent the next three hours discussing Muggle literature.

The whole house was watching with smiles on their faces. Even Ron cracked a smile, though he was still hurt from that morning. He had owled Lavender, and she had written back immediately, expressing her glee. Ron was as happy as Hagrid with a dragon.

At the end of the night, Remus gallantly walked 'Queen Hermione' back to her and Ginny's shared room, arm in arm.

Hermione thanked him for the 'walk' and he leaned down a bit. Hermione thought he was going to kiss her! 'What if I mess up?' she thought nervously. She was on the verge of hyperventilation as the door swung open revealing a very tired Ginny Weasley. Remus and Hermione were centimetres apart from each others lips, and Hermione experienced a pinch of cognitive dissonance as he hugged her briefly and left, bidding them good nights. 'Odd,' she thought. She felt relieved that the door interrupted, but also angry that she didn't get the chance to feel his lips upon hers.

In truth, Hermione had been fantasizing about his soft lips all day. She had thought it wrong and shook it off, and she followed that procedure as she was climbing into her twin bed.

'What a day,' she thought, and fell asleep right when her head hit the pillow.

A/N: Hey guys! I decided to upload another chapter because… TODAY'S MY BIRTHDAY! It's overwhelming the amount of reviews I've gotten in the past couple of days and I just wanted to say THANK YOU.

For the 15th review I get, whoever it is can be a character included in the story of their choice :) (Like you pick the name, appearance and purpose!) I bet you're wondering about the dress, eh? Mwahahaha.


	6. Finding a Loophole

Chapter 5

As Remus hurried away from Hermione and Ginny, he couldn't help feel horrible.

'Why did I even try to kiss her?' he wondered.

Remus saw the look of disappointment on her face, almost as if she thought better of him than to take advantage of their situation. And then he saw brief happiness. She probably thought he was a lecherous old man and was thankful for Ginny's interruption so she didn't have to kiss an ugly, old werewolf like him.

He wondered what had caused him to act that way, and then he remembered the full moon. It was tomorrow. 'Werewolves feel like mating during the full moon, it's one of many side effects, and I probably just felt the wolf in me coming out,' he thought. He felt a little better after that, but replayed the days events in his mind. He had heard Hermione talking about how terrible marrying him would be. He saw Hermione kissing Ron. Then he saw Hermione turn Ron down. 'Maybe it was just an act,' he reasoned.

Oh, how she reminded him of Lily. Remus greatly missed Lily. Only Sirius knew, and swore not to tell, but Lily had been Remus's first crush. Well, until James had called dibs on her in their first year on the train.

She was intelligent, kind, trusting and beautiful. Like Hermione. Remus would spend hours in the library, just to be alone with Lily, and that was the only reason he did so well in school. He wouldn't have set foot in the library if Lily didn't love it, and he probably would have become just like James and Sirius.

Remus sighed and opened his bedroom door, his thoughts betraying him like they always did near the full moon.

He was terribly tired, so he yanked off his robes, shirt and trousers and neglected his pyjamas. He flopped into bed and fell asleep to the soothing noises of his own breathing.

Hermione woke bright and early on Sunday morning, and got in her morning routine in less than 15 minutes. She woke Ginny up and bounded down the stairs to make her morning cup of tea.

She saw Mrs. Weasley working away at breakfast, and leaned against the countertop, slowly sipping her tea.

"Mrs. Weasley," Hermione started.

"Yes, Dear?"

"I was wondering where the wedding will be," Hermione asked, blushing.

"At Hogwarts, of course," Mrs. Weasley answered, as though it were obvious.

"Yes, but when we get back all of the students will be there. Won't they ask question upon question?" Hermione said nervously. She hoped that no one told the school. They would all put her on the spotlight even more. First for being The Harry Potter's best friend, second for being smartest in her year as well as Head Girl, and third for marrying a professor.

"No, of course not. It isn't safe on the Hogwarts Express for Harry anyways, so we will be going next week by Portkey," Mrs. Weasley clarified. "Arthur was actually going to tell everyone at dinner, you see, so you could finish up packing on time."

"Oh, thanks," Hermione said warily. She was beginning to get scared, anxious and nervous about the wedding all at the same time. This can't be good for her studies. 'Maybe I should have a calming draught,' she thought. She was exceptional at Potions and could have one ready within the hour.

Hermione closed her eyes, still sipping her tea. The warmth radiating from the ceramic mug heated her hands in the cold, underground kitchen of Grimmauld Place. She wondered how Sirius had managed being cooped up here all the time while he was still on the run. Thankfully, his name had been cleared after his return from the Veil earlier that year. She and Dumbledore had worked tirelessly for months following his death. They couldn't tell Harry anything, though, because they didn't want to get his hopes up and then crush him again. It would be like losing Sirius a second time.

Sirius would be returning to Hogwarts with them, to work as an assistant to Remus's DADA post. It would be nice for Harry to have him at Hogwarts, to lighten the mood a bit. He currently had the whole of the Wizarding World resting on his shoulders, as nearly everyone had heard of the Prophecy meant for Voldemort's demise.

Hermione was glad that the wedding would take place at Hogwarts. It was a home for both of them, since they both no longer had real homes to go to. Remus's father had been murdered by Fenrir Greyback in his fourth year and his mother had committed suicide out of depression.

Hermione had not told anyone that her parents had been dead since last Summer. It was too painful and she didn't want their pity. Only Dumbledore knew, and he figured out on his own account. He had put her in name to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and they were her official guardians. She didn't know if Dumbledore had told them. Maybe Mr. Weasley, but not Mrs. Weasley. She would have completely changed her demeanour towards Hermione and she seemed exactly the same. Everyone knew Mrs. Weasley could not hold in her emotions for more than an hour, at most.

She wondered if her professors would start calling her Mrs. Lupin. 'Mrs. Lupin. I sure could get used to that. Mrs. Hermione Granger-Lupin. Mr. and Mrs. Remus Lupin,' she thought with a girly smile on her face. This was totally not the way she usually acted. Maybe Mrs. Weasley had slipped a potion in her tea and she didn't recognize. She knew one thing; she was in denial. She told herself the wedding was completely platonic and meant nothing. That seemed to 'fix' her for the time being.

'How long would it be before everyone found out?' she asked herself, feeling slightly nauseous at the thought of the whole school against her.

Remus awoke to the sound of rustling and stomping.

He sat up in his bed slowly, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. 'Full moon tonight,' he thought. He had better be careful around Hermione, because who knew what he would do with his crazy wolf hormones that rivalled a teenage boy.

By the time he was finished with his shower, he was aching for his daily dosage of caffeine. He wrapped his robe around himself and walked quietly down the steps, not wanting to wake anyone up.

As he got to the kitchen, he saw Hermione leaning on the counter, teacup in her hand. She looked deep in thought. She always frowned and chewed her lip when she was thinking really hard about something, yet another thing that reminded him of Lily. He shook Lily out of his mind and strode over to the kettle, which happened to be quiet near Hermione.

He quickly fixed his tea, and took it to another room. He didn't want to put Hermione in danger of Moony. It seemed she didn't even notice him enter or leave the kitchen, so she couldn't take his abrupt tea making and dashing from the scene personally.

He plunked down into his favourite armchair, and grabbed the Daily Prophet. He thought it was a load of rubbish, but someone had to read it to figure out what was happening at the Ministry or if they knew anyone dead.

The front page's headline caught his eye: **Marriage Law; The Best Thing Since Floo Powder**.

He flipped to the page and read the article;

"The newly reinstated Marriage Law is apparently the best thing since Floo powder. Since the rise of the Dark Lord and the encouragement of the Dark Arts, we have lost many magical beings. Combine that with the alarming amount of Squibs being born to Pureblood families because of centuries of inbreeding, the Magical World will not survive. Thankfully, the Marriage Law instates another side law; procreation. Anyone who fails to consummate the marriage within 24 hours after the ceremony, will be sent to the Ministry with an immediate trial. This law assists magical beings with producing. By following our law, you're saving the Wizarding World, one child at a time," he read aloud.

Remus's jaw dropped and he heard a smash behind him. He whipped out his wand and got up from his chair to reveal a very startled and distraught looking Hermione, whose teacup had slipped from her hands. She looked too surprised to do anything, so Remus used a quick 'reparo' on the ceramic pieces.

"Hermione? Are you alright?" Remus asked, sincerely concerned.

She nodded vigorously and dashed up the stairs, probably to tell Ginny what she had just heard.

Remus sighed again and sat down in his armchair, rubbing his temples and hating himself for what he would have to do to her.

Hermione slammed open her door and shut it, not noticing Ginny polishing her Comet 260 on her own bed.

She laid down on her bed and started to cry, as Ginny stared, bewildered at her actions. Hermione never cried, she was one of the strongest people Ginny knew, aside from her Mother of course. She slowly approached Hermione, not really knowing what to do to comfort her, since Hermione had always been the one to comfort Ginny. She tried mirroring her actions; putting a hand on her arm and looking concerned.

It didn't work.

Hermione seemed to notice Ginny after a few minutes, and wiped all of her tears. Ginny pulled her in for a hug and asked what was wrong. Hermione just mumbled something about "babies" and "stupid".

After about five minutes of blubbering, Hermione sobered up enough to tell Ginny what actually happened.

"Well, you see, Remus was in the sitting room and he forgot to put the sugar in his tea, so I came out to tell him, just in case, you know? And he always reads out loud, weird one, he is, and he was reading an excerpt from the Daily Prophet. I listened because I was interested and I didn't want to bother him by interrupting, so I just waited by the door," Hermione sniffled "the Marriage law also entails something that no one told us, stupid for me not to realize why they have a law, really, but it's to conceive children! To save the Wizarding race!"

Ginny looked confused "So? Can't you just not do it?"

"No, the Ministry will send you to a trial. You have 24 hours after the wedding ceremony to consummate. I suppose I could take a contraceptive potion, really, but I'm-" she cut herself off.

"You're what?" Ginny asked, a little too harshly for Hermione's liking, but she brushed it off. She meant well.

Hermione lowered her voice to barely above a whisper "A virgin."

Ginny gasped and pulled Hermione tighter into her arms, murmuring meaningless words.

"I was too, you know, before Harry. But Professor Lupin is a wonderful man, and he's probably feeling even worse than you are. It will kill him if he sees you like this, he'll just put himself down and close off the world, like when Sirius fell into the Veil," Ginny declared.

Hermione felt a pang of guilt. She hadn't even thought about what Remus must be feeling about this. He probably didn't even know she was completely inexperienced.

Hermione vowed to herself to make the wedding night enjoyable for the both of them.

Remus sighed. Why did these things always happen to him?

He felt like a pervert and a pedophile.

She was probably crying that she had to copulate with an ugly, old werewolf and possibly become a teenage mother. 'No,' he thought. 'I'll get Severus to brew her contraceptive potions.'

Maybe there was a way they could get around this? He would go to Kingsley straight away later, and complain that she was still in school so the conditions shouldn't apply to her.

He sipped his tea and shuddered. He had forgotten sugar.

He walked back over to the kitchen stiffly to grab the sugar pot from the counter. As he was stirring his tea, he heard footsteps. He turned around and, for the second time that day, Hermione was standing right behind him with slightly red eyes and an embarrassed look on her face. She motioned for him to sit down and he did so. They were staring at each other for half a minute before she spoke.

"Can we talk about what happened ten minutes ago?" she asked, looking nervous and fidgety.

"Of course!" Remus replied a little too quickly, feeling as nervous as Hermione looked.

"I'm sorry that I reacted the way I did and thank you for cleaning up the teacup I broke," she said.

Remus sighed. "It's to be expected, Hermione. Why would anyone like you want to hav-" she cut him off.

"No. No! That's not it! It's not because I don't _want _to shag you, it's because I don't want to make you do this and feel guilty about it. You're helping me, here, and I'm so, so thankful, but I don't want you to feel obligated to do this and it makes me feel bad," she rambled, not really making sense.

"Hermione, don't feel bad. I know you were probably saving yourself for a real marriage, with Ron, and I'm sorry that I have to take your virginity," he said with sad look on his face.

"How did you know I was a virgin?" Hermione inquired, her sharp wit making things quite hard for Remus.

"I, uh, er," he stammered.

Hermione started laughing. Of course she knew why he could tell she was a virgin. His werewolf senses probably picked it up, but she was just teasing him now.

Remus's flushed look disappeared as she started laughing. 'A weird one, she is,' he thought with a grin.

He talked to her about having Snape brew a contraceptive potion, but she said she could do it herself. He was surprised, as it wasn't an easy thing to do, but she said she had made it before.

At this he quirked an eyebrow, and asked for who. She wouldn't tell him so he started naming everyone he knew. When he got to Ginny's name, she blushed and made him promise not to tell Mrs. Weasley.

Remus laughed it off and his spirits brightened quite a bit from their talk.

It would be easy being married to her.

A/N: Congratulations to my fifteenth reviewer, Kayleigh-FanfictionAddict-21, I owe you a character! Leave me a review with a name, appearance and personality and I'll work it into my story :)

I felt this chapter was a tad rushed, but who knows. I don't have a beta so please excuse any grammatical errors until I persuade one of my friends into beta-ing for me. I don't know, really, what I'll do for the consummating the marriage, maybe a lime (implied sexual acts). But I'll put a warning in if you don't like that sort of thing. Personally, it makes me feel a little uncomfortable but I'll get over it :)

Oh, and thank you so much for the Birthday wishes!


	7. A Proposal

Chapter 6

The weeks leading up to their return to Hogwarts passed a little too quickly for Hermione's liking.

She had grown quite close to Remus, even though things could get quite awkward sometimes. He hadn't tried to kiss her since the night she went dress shopping, and she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, although she knew not why.

'Am I undesirable?' she thought. 'No boys ever look at me, anyways, except for Ron. But Ron can be a bit of a moron, sometimes,' she reasoned.

Hermione sought out Ginny the day before they returned via Portkey to Hogwarts and asked for her help.

Ginny was gorgeous, and every boy (and even girl, sometimes) seemed to fall at her feet. Hermione always had to know everything about anything, and she wanted to know how Ginny did it. Ginny was ecstatic and agreed to help Hermione out, on one condition; she must not complain during the process. Hermione didn't quite understand, but she went along with it anyways, she didn't want to have to resort to Mrs. Weasley or Tonks for these kind of things, it would be too embarrassing.

Ginny had begun right away, prepping and primping Hermione for her first step into the world of feeling beautiful.

Hermione, as a feminist, immediately felt like a hypocrite. She didn't agree with contorting features and faking beauty, as everyone was beautiful in their own way, but Hermione did feel self conscious at times. Girls would pick on her hair, insult her smarts and up until the fourth year, make fun of her crooked and overlarge teeth.

The first thing Ginny had done was a sort of charm to 'tame the wild beast' which Hermione found quite funny. Hermione's hair felt quite heavy for half a minute, and then the weight diminished. She went up to look in the mirror, but Ginny stopped her so she had to resort to the feel of it and imagine what it looked like. 'Probably looks like a bunch of straw,' she mused.

Ginny followed by fixing her skin as she had some red spots and a few blemishes. She pointed her wand and each blemish felt white-hot for a fraction of a second, but went back to normal leaving Hermione wondering 'Why doesn't she spend all of this time doing homework instead of memorizing beauty charms? She's a natural at wand-waving.'

Hours had passed and Ginny was still working feverishly on her. She had sculpted her hands to be daintier, gave her a figure that managed to fill out her wedding dress ravishingly, and done something to her eyes that made them see brighter and sharper.

Ginny begrudgingly took her wand away from Hermione's face and let her look at herself in the mirror.

Her eyes were a mix between gold and hazel, and glittered in the light. Hermione guessed that Ginny had improved her vision. She didn't know that she had needed glasses, but now she could tell the difference. Ginny had lined her eyes in a shimmery chocolate brown and applied the thinnest coat of black mascara.

Her lips, surprisingly, had been left alone in shape. Ginny said they were perfect the way they were, and only glossed them with a sheer pink colour. They were her favourite part of her face, simply for the reason that they were her own and not altered by magic.

She looked at her hands and gasped. Hermione had always been a nail-biter, as it helped with her stress. Her nail beds were perfect and unharmed, as well as painted with a clear coat. Her cuticles weren't ripped or torn, and there was no sign of hangnails. She needed to learn this spell.

As she finally reached her hair, she was speechless. It fell in loose, honey brown silky waves down her back. Hermione combed her hands through it, expecting it to frizz up and go back to normal, but it stayed exactly the same. She wondered what would happen when she washed it.

Hermione frowned inwardly and looked at herself for the hundredth time.

There was only one word to describe her.

Fake.

Remus had been beating himself up for the past week, deciding and then cowering about a question for her.

He pondered the idea, and mentally berated himself for going through with the first step. It was stupid. Meaningless.

'You're a Gryffindor, get over it! Nothing bad can come of it,' he'd argue with himself.

'Yes,' he thought. Today would be the day.

He grabbed something off of his nightstand and removed the disillusionment charm from it and pocketed in the deep pockets of his robe. He slowly opened the door and walked down the stairs, giving himself a mental pep talk as he did so. He walked into the sitting room, and spotted Hermione. He felt his hand instinctively reach into his robe pocket, a firm grip on the object.

Hermione was reading, like always, but saw Remus approaching from the corner of her eye. She turned and greeted him.

Remus was floored.

There was only one word to describe her.

Beautiful.

Hermione sat in the armchair Remus usually preferred, and found she liked it best too. 'Finders keepers,' she thought with a grin.

She grabbed her current book off of the coffee table and flipped to the perfect page; it was a spell she had learned after Ron pulled out her bookmark for the umpteenth time. The page last read by her glowed orange for 10 seconds after you opened it, which Hermione thought was extremely handy.

She had been reading for about fifteen minutes, and heard someone walking down the stairs. She stood up and turned, to see who it was, and saw it was Remus. She said hello, but he didn't respond, his hand stuck in his pocket. 'Sirius probably temporarily stuck it there,' she thought with an inward eye roll. His eyes seemed glued to hers as he fought to break eye contact.

He stumbled towards her and she raised a brow; he was never like this. She wondered wether he was sick or someone had used 'Langlock' on him, as it was a spell that glues the victims tongue to the roof of their mouth, disenabling them to speak. She giggled inwardly.

Remus approached her and got on one knee shakily.

Hermione gasped, she knew what was happening. 'Why is he doing this? We're already kind of engaged, anyways,' she thought, confused.

He finally opened his mouth to speak, not breaking eye contact with her. "Hermione, this isn't the exact situation I would like to do this in," he clarified, his voice strong "but over the past years we've become very close, and we hold in our hearts a friendship I'll cherish until the end of my days. I understand that this isn't your ideal proposal, though I felt that this was the right time. Hermione Jean Granger, would you do me the honour of being my best friend, someone I can confide in and share my deepest, darkest secrets and desires, and, most importantly, my wife?"

Hermione watched him intently as he opened the small, velvet box and pulled out a ring. Her hands flew up to cover her mouth. It had a gold band with three diamonds; a larger one flanked by two little ones on each side. The middle was a clear, princess cut diamond while the others were ruby red and sparkling. 'Perfect for a Gryffindor,' she thought smiling.

She was speechless.

Remus looked at Hermione. He would bet that it had been over five minutes since he started his completely spontaneous, on the spot speech.

She was holding her hands over her mouth, probably to hide her laughter.

Who was he kidding? This marriage wasn't real, and he shouldn't make it such a big deal. He had felt it right to present her with an engagement ring before she was married, as a true gentleman would. Remus's mother and father had taught him all about common courtesy just by the way they treated each other.

The ring had once belonged to his mother. In her will she had left him everything her and his father had owned, which albeit wasn't much, but it had included this ring with a personal note. It had her permission to use it on woman he loved, and her blessing. He kept that letter in his pocket all the time, and would never think of parting with it.

He stole an inquisitive glance at Hermione, who looked like she was fighting not to laugh.

He sighed and was about to stand up when she uttered two simple words.

"I will," she exclaimed breathlessly, with a big, _real _smile.

He carefully slid the ring, which was a tad large, on the feminine finger of her left hand. The ring glowed red and shrunk to fit her perfectly.

He stood up and she flung her arms around him, although he didn't understand why. He had always had a thing for words, so maybe the speech had gotten to her.

When they broke apart after around three minutes, he looked to see all of Grimmauld Place standing in the doorway, Ginny and Molly at the front silently crying tears of happiness. As everyone saw him and Hermione staring at them, they started clapping and cheering and Ginny ran up to Hermione squealing and hugging her. Hermione was limp in Ginny's arms, and she laughed at her friends silliness.

Sirius, Harry, Ron and the Weasley men clapped Remus on the back. He could have sworn he heard Sirius tell him to "get some". 'Typical,' he thought.

Throughout the day, Hermione had everyone in the house comment about her new look. They told her she was beautiful (along with a countless amount of other compliments) and she thanked them, blushing.

She was starting to like her new look and the good attention it brought. She was tired of being The Bookworm, Harry Potter's Best Friend, Bushy-Haired Girl and Know-It-All. She wanted to be known as Hermione Granger, maybe pretty as well, but nothing else. She liked this kind of attention, but Ginny told her to keep her cool and not lose her head and reminded her, quite harshly, that this was not her. It was just an enhancement on herself and she had to remember that.

Hermione owed Ginny greatly for this, and planned to always make time for helping her with homework or seducing Harry.

She looked down at the ring on her finger; it was absolutely breathtaking. Combine that with his speech, and she felt as if she had been put under a Jelly-Legs Jinx combined with a Petrifying Jinx.

Hermione had wanted to tell him that these were, in fact, perfect circumstances for a proposal. She wasn't one to care about girly things like this, but Remus was always so hard on himself and she took it upon herself to lighten his spirits, if only a notch, as her wifely duty.

Tomorrow they would be returning home, to Hogwarts. Tomorrow they would be getting married. Tomorrow they would consummate the marriage. Tomorrow they would be bonded for eternity.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I promise the wedding chapter will be next. It's not nice to keep you waiting about the dress description ;)


	8. Finally

Chapter 7

The morning of the wedding was rather uneventful, as they only taken a Portkey to Dumbledore's office after they'd grabbed a spot of tea and some toast.

Harry and Ron still had trouble landing the Portkey, but Hermione had mastered it by Apparating anywhere and everywhere.

Dumbledore had dismissed everyone after offering them a lemon drop but told Remus, Professor McGonagall and Hermione.

"Lemon drop?" Dumbledore offered for the second time. They all shook their heads.

"As you know, married couples have to sleep in the same bed according to the law," he started "and Professors Snape and McGonagall have put together quite a nice living space for you two," he said, with the normal twinkle in his eyes. "Professor McGonagall volunteered to be the first to show you to your new quarters. I expect this will be a very _nice _surprise for you two."

After saying their thanks, McGonagall shooed them from the room and strode ahead of them, making sharp left and right turns. Hermione was memorizing the sudden turns when she recognized something; the library. She was giddy with delight as McGonagall stood in front of a portrait a corridor over from the school's library. She looked at Remus and he was the very picture of astonished.

The portrait was a grey wolf flanked by a big, black dog and a stag that looked just like Harry's Patronus. The wolf's amber eyes glittered and he howled, looking up at the moon. The black dog was looking as playful as ever, laying on the ground with his tongue lolling about. The stag stood in a royal stature, probably joking around by pretending to be regal.

'The Marauders,' Hermione thought as she looked at Remus who was trying to hold back his tears.

"_Thesaurum lupum _will be your password. I trust Miss Granger to figure out what it means," McGonagall explained with a smile.

She led them into a beautiful room of reds and golds, complete with mahogany flooring and furniture. Hermione let out a barely audible gasp, and Remus smirked and laughed. 'How Gryffindor,' they both thought. There was a kitchenette with a small house elf, named Tawny, there to greet them, which made Hermione bubble with anger.

She was still on about S.P.E.W, as Remus had figured out during one of their midnight talks over tea. He had tried to knock some sense into her, explaining that they aren't wired the same way as humans. She looked mad, but understood. When she had brought up Dobby and how he was loving freedom, Remus countered with 'evolution'. It would take a while for all of the elves to slowly start following Dobby, but she couldn't expect it to happen overnight.

She begrudgingly let the house elf remain in their service, because it made the elf happy. She constantly complimented it and its work. Remus liked her devotion.

When they had toured the whole place, including the huge master bedroom with an en suited bathroom that rivalled the Prefects one, she led them to a painting of Hermione reading her favourite book; Hogwarts: A History.

"Miss Granger, do you remember what I told you when I gave you your first time-turner in your third year?" McGonagall inquired.

"Of course, there are always consequences to medd-" Hermione was cut off by the portrait as it swung open. Her painted self winking at her before looking back down at her book.

Hermione shot her Professor a confused look, as she was trying to decipher which one of those words was the password.

'Consequences,' she thought, and looked visibly relieved.

"Excuse, me, but where exactly does this take me?" Hermione asked, slightly suspicious.

"In this tunnel, you will find a replica of every portrait in this school that leads somewhere. This one," she said as the pointed to the Fat Lady "is for the Gryffindor common room. You must know the original password in order to pass through it. But please, Miss Granger, use them responsibly or there will be _consequences_," she said with a stern look and swept away to a portrait of a Scottish field, complete with a tartan-covered cat. She muttered a password and stepped halfway through, pausing to look at Hermione.

"Knock on this portrait at half five, sharp. Have a nice day, Miss Granger," she said and the portrait door slammed closed after her.

Hermione walked back into her and Remus's quarters. They had a nice potions lab, and Hermione decided to make use of it. She gathered her ingredients and set to work.

She was missing her pomegranates, so she walked to the kitchen to order one from Tawny. Tawny looked eager as always to be pleasing her Mistress and returned in a second flat with a basketful of pomegranates.

Hermione was in the middle of carefully squeezing the juice from the seeds of a halved pomegranate as Remus walked in.

"What are you concocting this early in the day?" he asked with a smile.

"A useful little potion that involves freshly squeezed pomegranate, lacewings, and pollen from a Germinet Atocium," she challenged.

He walked up to her and gave her a hug. "Come on, you know I'm horrid at Potions," he said and he squeezed her tighter.

She let out a musical laugh and chucked her Medicinal Potions guide at him, the name at the top.

"Contraceptive Potion," he read out loud. That was one of his bad habits, but Hermione seemed to love it when he read out loud instead of in his head. His voice really was quite soothing.

"Why do you need this?" he asked, looking at the potion.

She arched an eyebrow at him. "I don't think I want little Granger-Lupins running around for a long, long time," she said with a smile.

Remus was relieved, and let out an inward sigh. 'Thank Merlin,' he thought. He definitely didn't want children for a while, and he was happy to see that Hermione could wait, too. He loved children, that was the reason he became a Professor, but he never ever wanted to inflict this terrible curse on them. He just wouldn't take the chance.

Hermione knew that she should be stressing about her wedding later that day, but she had found out that brewing potions cleared her mind and calmed her down.

When half five came, Hermione was already knocking on the portrait of the tartan-covered tabby. Immediately after her third knock, the door swung open and she was gestured inside by her Professor.

Her dress stood on a transfigured mannequin and Ginny, Mrs. Weasley and Tonks were all there.

Hermione had just wanted to slip on her dress and go, but Ginny insisted that she let her do her makeup. She put a charm on it to make it last 24 hours without smudging, her reason being that Hermione would probably rub her face and have terrible wedding pictures to look at while she regretted not letting Ginevra Weasley, beautiful redhead, help her.

She stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her dress sure was beautiful, but Ginny made it so that it didn't outshine the bride. It had a gorgeous sweet-heart neckline with thin, white straps. There was an empire waist and it flowed gracefully down to the floor, a swishy train. The dress had an overlay of sparkling lace cover the whole thing, and a glittering, golden belt. Hermione's favourite part was the bottom. It ended a good three inches above her ankle at the front, over a red silk that completed the lining of the train. The dress's red and gold just so happened to match her ring, and their wedding theme.

Mrs. Weasley had taken it upon herself to pick out some wedding bands for them, and brought back matching, inscribed golden bands. Each one said something different, specified by their spouse, but Hermione had no idea what hers said.

Hermione felt a tear slip down her cheek, which Ginny evaporated before it could reach her beautiful ensemble. Ginny was right, the proofing charm was a good idea.

After about an hour of primping, they still had another hour before she was due to make her way to the ballroom.

Hermione suddenly remembered something; she hadn't asked anyone to give her away. She started hyperventilating until she realized who would be best for the job.

Harry and Ron were in the wedding party, therefore would be too busy to do the father's duty.

She slowly crept out of McGonagall's private quarters and looked into her hall of paintings. She scanned them all until she found one that she thought would suit him.

She rapped loudly on the painting of a red haired woman with green eyes to rival Harry's. She had never seen this painting before, but Dumbledore had personally told her about the man's infatuation with Lily Evans.

The portrait swung open and out stepped a sallow, lank haired and hook-nosed man. Hermione mentally congratulated herself for her knowledge and reasoning skills.

"What do you want, Miss Granger?" Snape asked, eyeing her dress.

"Well, um, you don't have to if you don't want to, but my father isn't here, you see," she stammered before Snape cut her off.

"Shouldn't you have thought of who to give you away before the wedding day?" he asked with not a trace of coldness in his voice. Odd.

"I'm sorry, Professor, it was irresponsible of me, but do you think you could, uh, give me away tonight at the wedding?" she squeaked.

"As you wish," he said with a roll of his eyes. He stepped back in and slammed his portrait shut after she screamed a thank you.

She walked back to McGonagall's rooms and the rest of the hour went by in a blur.

Sirius knocked on Remus and Hermione's door, his arms laden with alcohol and flanked by the Weasley men and Harry.

The door swung open, revealing a disheveled looking Remus, eyes softening at the sight of his best friend, two of his best students and his favourite family.

Sirius barged in without a word, and magicked the bottles of Firewhiskey and who-knows what else onto the spotless coffee table.

"Sirius, you can't possibly think that I'll get pissed drunk right before my wedding," he said sternly.

"James did, and so can you. Lily was raging, though. I'll show you the memory sometime, Harry," Sirius said, and watched happily as the face of the Boy-Who-Lived brightened at the mention of his parents. Harry would love to see his mum yelling at his dad right after their wedding, getting drunk and acting completely inappropriately during the garter toss.

"I don't care if James made a fool of himself at his wedding, I on the other hand, will not," Remus chastised.

"Oi, if you don't I will, then," Sirius said as he poured himself a large glass of brandy, the amber liquid sloshing around dangerously and almost spilling on the plush, new rug of the sitting room.

Remus rolled his eyes as his best man. He didn't really care how drunk Sirius got, he'd just put Harry in his place. Remus was actually quite nervous about the whole ordeal and felt as though he was going to do something terrible, mess up or pull a Tonks. Would Hermione forgive him if he accidentally ruined their wedding? Surely she would on the outside, but would she hate him for eternity on the inside? What about-

"Remus, Remus? Are you there?" Harry said, flailing his arms around like a nutcase and interrupting Remus's train of thought. "Maybe you _do _need a drink," Harry considered.

Harry filled a shot glass with the Firewhiskey. 'This will definitely calm him down,' thought Harry deviously as he slipped an unnoticed drop of Calming Draught in his drink. He passed over the shot to Remus, who eyed it warily for a moment before tilting it back and downing it in one go.

The Weasley twins cheered at this.

"What are you doing here, anyways?" Remus asked, feeling considerably better. Firewhiskey did come in handy sometimes.

"We've come to bring your robes, you moron!" a half-drunk Sirius, on his third glass of brandy, exclaimed.

Remus corked an eyebrow at this, as he didn't see them. Ron pulled a box out of his robe pockets and resized it. "Put them on then," they all said.

Remus looked at them, tilting his head. He didn't feel like putting them on right now.

Sirius did that same switching spell and the robes were instantly fastened around him, his Muggle clothes laying in a heap on the floor. 'Hermione won't like that,' he thought as he magicked them to the basket. Hermione was anal about cleaning and keeping things tidy, which he didn't mind. He found it one of her better traits, since he certainly didn't want to live with a slob for the rest of his life. He looked at Sirius and instantly felt pity for whichever poor girl broke him of his playboy ways, as he was a right pig. The man in question was currently downing another glass of the amber liquid. Sirius could hold his liquor quite well when he wanted to. He made a mental note to slip him a hangover potion before he left the ballroom.

Remus summoned Sirius's freshly emptied glass and vanished the bottles back to Sirius's own quarters. They needed to get ready now, as they only had an hour before they were due in front of the grand, oak doors.

Remus excused himself to take a shower and shave, while not noticing one of the Weasley twins slip Sirius something.

"Here, mate. Chew this and you'll come back to the land of the sober." Sirius had winked in response and ate the pastille, waiting for it to take effect.

By the time Remus got out of the shower, shaved his face, put on his deodorant and cologne, and changed back into his dress robes, Sirius was as sober as if he hadn't had around seven glasses of alcohol.

Remus noticed that everyone was changed into their own robes, the bridal party wearing gold and black robes, while Sirius's robes were gold and scarlet. Harry was looking nervous, cleaning his glasses and flattening his hair. 'Like that's going to work. You can't escape Potter-hair,' Remus thought with a sad smile at the memory of his deceased best friend.

Before he knew it, they were striding down the hall and he was standing at the alter awaiting Hermione.

Hermione heard the self-playing piano's beautiful march, and immediately tensed. She had gotten Ginny to bring her the Contraceptive Potion right before they got to the ballroom, and was fully protected until this time tomorrow. She was very stiff, and Tonks had taken it upon herself to give her a small dosage of straight Calming Draught. Hermione had suddenly felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off of her shoulders, and was ready to tackle that thing they call marriage.

Hermione watched as Ginny and Sirius, arm in arm as Maid of Honour and Best Man gracefully strode down the plush, red aisle littered with golden leaves. She watched Tonks and Harry leave next and split into their respective sides. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley after them, closely followed by Ron and some girl she didn't know. She was there and the numbers were uneven, so Hermione had quickly asked her to be a bridesmaid and transfigured her clothes into a matching dress.

Snape looked at Hermione, holding out his arm for her to take and calmly leading her through the oak doors. Snape honestly wished he had had a daughter, but after teaching at Hogwarts his mindset changed, and for a split second envisioned Hermione as that. He shook it off, she was an insufferable know it all.

It was her turn to walk down, now. 'Don't trip,' she thought, vaguely reliving her nightmare. She shook the nightmare from her mind and marched fluidly down the aisle with Snape, to a calm looking Remus.

As she reached him, Ginny gave her a supportive smile and Hermione smiled weakly back. 'No Calming Draught was this powerful,' she thought.

"Mr. Severus Snape, do you willingly give away Miss Hermione Granger to be wedded to Mr. Remus Lupin?" the Officiant inquired.

"I do," Snape replied silkily. He gave them a look and went back to his seat, beside Dumbledore in the front row.

Hermione faced Remus and he gave her a smile not unlike Ginny's, but she could see the actual happiness in his eyes. Remus's smiles never reached his eyes. Ever. He was too scarred from his past, but now Hermione inspected his eyes and they looked more blue than grey, and full of life. Hermione shot him a radiant grin back, and turned to their Officiant. He looked fairly sour, like he had smelled something that hadn't appealed to him. He was shorter than average height, but still taller than Hermione. His cold grey eyes made Hermione think of the Malfoys and she shuddered inwardly. He pulled out his wand and intricately waved it, causing a white band to entwine itself around Remus and Hermione's outstretched hands.

"We are gathered here today…" the Officiant droned. Hermione didn't take in anything he was saying.

As they neared the "I do's", Hermione snapped back into consciousness.

"Hermione Granger, do you take this man, Remus Lupin, to be your lawfully wedded husband? To love and to hold, to honour and to cherish for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," Hermione answered with a smile.

"Remus Lupin, do you take this woman, Hermione Granger, to be your lawfully wedded wife? To love and to hold, to honour and to cherish for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," Remus said strongly.

The ribbon around their hands glowed purple (and there were few audible gasps) and snaked from their hands, freeing them, and retracted back into the Officiant's wand. There was a jerk in her chest, and her heart started beating a bit faster. Hermione wondered what the purple meant, as she had never read about a purple ribbon.

"Do you have the rings?" the Officiant asked sternly.

They both held out their right hands. Hermione's materialized in her palm from Sirius's box, and Remus summoned his from Ginny.

"Miss, please place the band in your right hand on your Groom's ring finger of his left hand," the Officiant ordered.

Hermione shakily slid the large ring onto Remus's masculine finger. It glowed and resized itself to fit.

"Mr. Lupin, please place the band in your right hand on your Bride's ring finger of her left hand," The Officiant repeated, this time directed towards Remus.

Remus smoothly slid the gold ring onto Hermione's thin finger, and like his, it glowed and resized itself.

"Mr. Lupin, you may now kiss your Bride."

Hermione and Remus leaned in to kiss each other briefly, slightly jerked away, and as if they could read each others minds, pulled each other in for a long, highly inappropriate kiss in front of the whole crowd.

There were whoops and catcalls from the Weasley twins, and a few giggles from the women around the room.

"I present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Remus Lupin," the Officiant drawled, as more cheers erupted from the room.

Remus and Hermione joined hands, looking slightly embarrassed and flushed, and walked out of the room together.

The reception would soon follow, but they were to go back to their rooms for half an hour before they could make their grand entrance.

'I'm married, I'm married!' was all either of them could think as they grinned at each other for the whole walk back to their rooms.

A/N: So? Did you like it? Thanks so much for the wonderful dress idea from my dear friend Sarena, I owe you! In the next chapter the party will really start -suggestive eyebrow raise-. Review if you want to, I'm not going to push it on you. If there's anything you'd like to tell me PM or leave a review :)


	9. Punch

Chapter 8

It was an awkward half hour, mainly consisting of sheepish smiles and constant blushing.

Ginny and Mrs. Weasley had insisted that she buy a dress to change into for the reception, because she wouldn't be able to move freely in her wedding gown. They chose a silk, flowy little number that hit right above the knees. It was gold to match their Gryffindor theme and it accentuated all of the right areas.

There was only one problem; it had a zipper. Hermione didn't know any charms to do up zippers, and Ginny didn't teach her any. She would have to ask Remus. Hermione immediately tensed. The Calming Draught had lost it's effect on her right after their lengthy snog at the alter.

Hermione stepped out of their shared room, and padded over, barefoot, to the study. Remus was sitting in a squashy chintz armchair, the type Dumbledore preferred, going over his course lessons for the term. He had also changed, Hermione noticed. He was wearing a pair of plain black slacks and a crisp oxford. 'So Muggle,' Hermione thought.

She quietly strode up to him, tapping him gently on the shoulder. His head suddenly snapped up and looked at her, an inquisitive look that he usually got when he worked on his face. He tilted his head as if to ask what she wanted, and it worked. Hermione noticed that he had ink on his chin. 'How odd,' she thought with an inward smile.

"Could you, uh," she started. She turned so he was facing her back and pointed at her zipper.

He chuckled and easily zipped up her dress. It wasn't fair that men had buttons in the front to save them from embarrassment. She turned to face him and put her hands on her hips.

"It's not that funny, you know," she said.

He laughed again and said "You look beautiful."

"Suck up," Hermione chanted as she left the room. On the outside she was calm and collected, but on the inside it felt like there were a thousand flobberworms flipping around in her stomach.

After Remus had changed into his Muggle clothing, he decided to pass the time by working on his lesson plans for the upcoming year. He tapped his quill on his chin, a bad habit he picked up and had had since his fifth year at Hogwarts.

He couldn't concentrate on the work, so he let his mind wander. He thought of Hermione and how the ribbon glowed purple. 'What did that mean?' he thought. He made a mental note to look it up in the library sometime in the following week. He also thought about their little snogging session. He was still completely calm, and he reasoned that the Firewhiskey had definitely served its purpose.

A tap on the shoulder interrupted his train of thought. It was Hermione. She started stammering about something and turned around, motioning to her zipper. Remus zipped it with ease, and laughed a bit at her flushed face. She reprimanded him and he saved himself by telling her she was beautiful, which was true. She left the room looking more relaxed and Remus thought it was about time to get going. He set his lesson down and went to wash his face to ready himself for the upcoming grand entrance.

When he got to the huge bathroom, he noticed a smudge on his chin. 'Bloody hell,' he thought as he wiped it off with a soapy washcloth. As he arrived at the portrait door, Hermione was already waiting and tapping her foot. She raised an eyebrow and pointed at the clock on the wall. They had five minutes to get to the ballroom. Remus smiled apologetically and held his arm out for her to take.

'She really did look stunning,' Remus thought as they made their way to the oak-doors-of-doom.

Mrs. Weasley was running around like a maniac, finalizing preparations for the reception that was due to begin in less than five minutes. As much work as this took, she hoped that she had at least seven more weddings to plan, for all of her seven children. Bill was currently seeing Fleur, much to her disappointment. She hoped that they would be next so she felt productive. It was sad having all of your birds leave the nest and feeling useless for the rest of your life. Ginny had been her last to go and she spent as much time as possible with her and Ron before he had left for Hogwarts.

After everyone was seated, Sirius and Ginny were at the front of the table for the bridal party. It was a small wedding, only 25-30 people or so. All of the teachers had been invited and also all of the Weasleys and some of the Order. Sirius spoke first, welcoming everyone.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Witches and Wizards, Ghosts and Ghouls, Poltergeists and Pumpkins, Elv-" Sirius began.

"Get to the point already," Ginny said with a sugary sweet voice.

Sirius winked at her and spoke again "Welcome to the wedding reception for my best friend Remus Lupin,"

"And my best friend, Hermione Granger," Ginny finished.

Ginny flicked her wand and a self playing orchestra started a beautiful melody, a cue for Remus and Hermione to walk through the doors.

"May we present to you," Sirius started.

"Mr. and Mrs. Remus Lupin," Ginny said, as all heads turned to look at the doors. Ginny and Sirius made their way back to their table and sat in the cushy seats.

Remus entered the room first, followed closely by Hermione holding onto his arm. Neither of them had wanted a reception, but everyone had insisted that it was customary for a first dance, and who would pass up one of Molly's meals?

They danced closely for less than five minutes and walked back, hand in hand, to the seats at the head of the table.

Sirius cracked jokes about both of them, bookish ones for Hermione and werewolf ones for Remus. After, it was Ginny's turn to make the Maid of Honour speech, which made nearly everyone except for Snape tear up.

Harry and Ron surprised Hermione with a magical projection of their times together and an accompanying scrapbook which Hermione reckoned must have taken them at least a whole week to make, what with accumulating all of the pictures and memories.

After dinner, the festivities followed with the garter toss, cutting the cake and throwing the bouquet, which so happened to land in Professor McGonagall's arms.

Sirius approached them with the girl Hermione had asked to be an emergency bridesmaid later that day.

"Moony, 'Mione, this is Ayla," he said with a grin towards said girl. She had beautiful strawberry-blonde hair that fell to her shoulders. Her eyes were an icy blue, but held warmth like Hagrid's. 'She looked fairly easy to get along with,' Hermione thought.

"Oh, my gosh! You're part of the Golden Trio!" she screeched. 'Maybe I spoke a little too soon,' Hermione thought with an annoyed look on her face.

"The one and only," Hermione drawled.

"I just met Sirius here, you know, Sirius Black! He is so amazing," she squealed, putting a hand on Sirius's chest and leaning her head on his shoulder.

Remus gave Sirius a quizzical look, corking an eyebrow and pointing his chin at the girl. Sirius smirked and told Ayla to go get them some spiked punch.

"I heard that she's good in the sack," he explained, which made Hermione dissolve into an uncontrollable fit of giggles. Remus laughed with Hermione and clapped Sirius on the back.

"How old is she, anyways?" Remus asked, eyeing the girl.

"Twenty-four," Sirius said as Remus gave him a disapproving glare.

"What? If you get a pretty young thing, so do I," Sirius countered with a pointed look at Hermione which made her blush. Ginny chose that moment to pull her away and give her a glass of punch. It didn't taste like punch, it tasted like Firewhiskey. Hermione coughed and sputtered. She never drank.

"Ginny, what is this?" she asked through her coughing.

"Punch," Ginny said and ran away before Hermione could yell at her. Hermione drank it anyway, as she was parched. It burned her throat and made her feel a little woozy, but she ignored it. It was her wedding day, after all, she should be allowed some fun.

About an hour later, Hermione had finished her fourth glass of punch and was dancing away with Harry and Ron. Remus had noticed that the punch was almost completely Firewhiskey, but didn't want to ruin Hermione's fun. He had never seen her let loose like this, and he kind of liked it. He looked towards Sirius, who was still grinding inappropriately with a drunken Ayla. Remus rolled his eyes. One day Sirius would have to settle down with a nice girl. One who actually had a brain and knew how to use it. 'Like Hermione,' he thought. There was no doubt that they would be a perfect match. Sirius needed someone to look after him, which Hermione would excel at. She loved taking charge. He also needed someone who could let loose, which Hermione could also do. Hermione needed someone that wouldn't question her and could comfort her, something Sirius was good at. Remus felt a pang of jealousy as he compared his best friend and his wife.

He spotted Snape staring at him with an amused expression on his face. 'Get the hell out of my mind, you git,' Remus thought, which made Snape's smirk grow. Remus thought about Snape's nose and wondered why he hadn't used magic to fix the creature. He also thought about his hygienic habits.

_Contrary to popular belief, I do shower on a daily basis, _Snape projected into Remus's mind. Remus rolled his eyes again and got up to speak to Mrs. Weasley, who was passing around tea.

"Molly, I wanted to thank you for plan-" Remus started, only to be cut off.

"Oh, no worries Dear! Although I did want to talk to you about the purple glow," she said with a very un-Molly-like smirk as she placed a teacup down in front of Professor Sinistra.

"You know what that means?"

"Oh, yes of course! When Arthur and I got married we had a yellow glow. Yellow means Family, you know," Mrs. Weasley said with a bright smile.

"There are others?" Remus asked, confused.

"Countless. Purple means Soul, which is quite understandable as you two are very, very powerful magical beings," she trailed off.

Remus looked at her questioningly, what wasn't she telling him? "Is there another meaning for purple?"

Mrs. Weasley looked down and blushed. "Yes," she started.

Remus gave her a "Well, get on with it then," look and she understood.

"Purple also means Physical," she said sheepishly. Remus's eyes widened. He would definitely have to look this up in the library the next day.

'Physical? What could that mean?' he asked himself.

_Are you really that daft? _Snape's projection questioned.

'Shut up, Snivellus,' Remus shot back in his mind.

_Allow me to enlighten you: the sex will be amazing_.

Remus put his hand over his eyes and rubbed his temples. Snape could be so immature sometimes. He himself had never really picked on Snape during school, and this was the first time calling him his Marauder-given-name; Snivellus. He usually just addressed him as Snape or Severus.

As the wedding came to an end, Remus and (a completely drunk) Hermione thanked everyone for showing up. Hermione stumbled in her heels for the first five minutes of the walk back to their quarters. When she finally fell over, Remus decided to just pick her up and carry her. He had been wondering why she had chosen Snape to walk her down the aisle, instead of her own father. He reckoned it would have been too difficult to get her parents here, and decided to ask her about meeting them in the morning.

"Thesaurum lupum," Remus said as he lifted Hermione through the portrait hole. She was still giggling madly. Remus decided to take a picture for later. He set Hermione down on their shared bed and helped take the pins from her hair. He used the switching spell that Sirius was so fond of to change her into her pyjamas. When Remus turned to change into his own pyjamas, Hermione fell asleep.

'We have until tomorrow at half six, I'll let her sleep,' Remus thought, smiling at the peaceful look on her face.

Remus trotted over to his new favourite armchair, that reminded him of the one from Grimmauld Place, by the fire. He noticed that the Firewhiskey was still there.

'What could it hurt?' he thought, grabbing the bottle and a glass. He poured it smoothly and tipped it back, wincing as it burnt his throat and felt like flames in his stomach. 'Why do people drink this?' he thought, coughing at the sensation. He already felt a little drunk, so he slammed his glass on the table and decided to head back to bed. He must not have put the glass down very gently, because there was a wide awake Hermione standing in the doorway of their bedroom.

The last thing he remembered was the terribly annoying noise of the bed squeaking.

A/N: Sorry if you were expecting smut :P Maybe I'll throw some in another chapter.


	10. Silver

Chapter 9

"Wake up, Lupin," Snape said, drawing out every syllable. He was busy working on his term plan and developing potions for Madame Pomphrey's stock, so he wanted to get this over with as fast as possible. "Lumos maxima," he said, as a great ball of light erupted from his wand and settled itself into the next room. Remus groggily and slowly woke up, blinking away the sleep from his eyes. He squinted at the light and muttered "Nox." as he grabbed his wand.

"Whaddyawan?" he slurred sleepily, not noticing his or Hermione's lack of clothing. Snape glided into their bedroom, scanning the room for them. His eyes landed on the bed, where a very naked Hermione lay curled up on an equally naked Remus. He raised an eyebrow and inwardly gagged, levitating the blanket to cover them both. Lupin's _bits _where definitely not something he wanted, nor needed, to see at this hour. Or any hour, for that matter.

"Albus deemed me the messenger," he said with a sneer. He didn't have time to fetch the Know-it-All and her precious werewolf. Truthfully, he had been slightly hurt when she said that she would rather marry Lupin than him. Snape didn't realize that he could feel after Lily. "He wants you in his office. After you ready yourselves, of course."

Hermione was just waking up as she felt the vibrations of Remus's chest and heard someone speaking. "Stop talking so loud," she mumbled, hungover.

Snape smirked. He had a hangover potion in his robe pocket, but didn't intend to give it to her so easily. "I believe I have something you may need," Snape started.

Hermione pulled her head up from it's current resting place on Remus's chest. She held out her hand to accept whatever it was he had for her.

"Not so fast, Miss Granger," he said, enjoying taunting her.

"Lupin," she said clearly.

"Excuse me?" Snape said, even though he heard her perfectly fine the first time. He clamped his hand around the vial in his pocket and held it in his hand for her to see.

"Not Granger, Lupin," she clarified. "Now give me whatever it is you have," she demanded groggily. She sat up and got out of the comfortable bed, still not realizing, or not caring, that she was stark naked. She walked over to her professor, and held her hand out again. "Please," she added quickly. Snape looked away, although he did like his current sight.

"Put some clothes on first, you insolent girl." Hermione looked down at herself, eyes widening. She seemed to snap back to herself, because in less than five seconds she was wrapped in a blanket and looking distraught.

"Sir, I'm so sorry!" she panicked, not meeting his eyes. Remus chose this moment to get out of bed, his robes already on.

"Get out, Snape," he said. "You're scaring my wife."

Hermione looked at Remus sharply and put her hands on her hips. "He's not _scaring _me and I definitely don't need your help!" she fumed. Hermione hated when people thought she couldn't stand up for herself. She was a Gryffindor, after all! Remus put his hands up in defeat, smiling sheepishly. Snape sneered at them and tossed the potion at Remus's head, robes billowing behind him as he strode out of their personal quarters. Hermione released her hands from her hips, still glaring at Remus. As she moved her arms to lay more comfortably, her blanket slipping out of her clutch and onto the floor. She let out a little squeal, and bent down to pull the blanket back up. She noticed a terrible ache in her lower body. Wincing, she slowly grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around herself.

"What are you doing?" Remus asked in confusion. Hermione stared at him as though the answer was obvious and he was being extremely daft.

"I'm naked," she said slowly.

"So am I," he countered. She considered this for a few moments until she decided to speak again. Remus used the silence to hand her the potion, and she drank it down gratefully. After she had resorted to normal, she opened her mouth to talk.

"But I'm not wearing anything," she reasoned lamely.

"Look, Hermione, I saw it all last night. There's no reason to be ashamed," Remus responded, his voice strong. Hermione looked deep in thought, as she always chewed on her lip when she was thinking hard about something. She wordlessly walked out of the room into their shared bathroom, leaving behind a very confused Remus.

After they had both showered and changed, Hermione was waiting in the kitchen with two cups of tea. She hadn't spoken to him since before her shower, but she thought that making him tea would be a good start. Remus emerged from their door and noticed Hermione sitting with not one, but _two _mugs of searing hot tea. Remus had a bit of water in his nose still, and couldn't detect the type of teabags she had used. He strode over and pulled himself a chair without uttering a sound. Hermione gestured to his cup, the spoon stirring itself.

"Hermione, you didn't have to-" Remus started, to be cut off.

"Strong peppermint, one milk, two sugars," Hermione announced smartly. Remus wondered how exactly she knew what his favourite tea was and how he took it.

"How did you-" he was cut off again.

"It's really not that hard. I'm very observant, you see, and living together at Grimmauld Place for two months has certainly schooled me in how everyone likes their tea. For example, Harry prefers chamomile with two milks and one sugar, Sirius likes spiced cinnamon with no milk and five sugars, which is terrible for him, by the way, and Mrs. Weasley takes an extremely strong Earl Grey, no milk and no sugar. Oh, and Professor Snape drinks black coffee."

Remus stared at her in awe, he couldn't for the life of him remember how anyone took their tea. No one usually took interest in anything that Severus did, so that was also a shock. Hermione finished her tea and plinked the cup down in the sink, to be washed later.

"Oh! I've forgotten, we're supposed to be at Dumbledore's right now. That's what you said, isn't it?" Hermione asked.

"Shall we go now?" Remus asked her. Hermione nodded and practically bounced towards the door, but stopped and winced. Remus gave her a curious look before offering her his arm and grabbing her bag for her.

'He's such a gentleman. Ron would never have carried my bag, or offered his arm, for that matter,' Hermione gushed to herself. She was wondering what their meeting with the Headmaster would entail, as she was sure that they had covered everything on the day they had arrived.

"Pepper Imps," Remus said to the stone gargoyle, who instantly jumped and revealed access for he and Hermione.

"He should really think about changing his passwords to something more difficult, I mean anyone could list candies and have immediate access to anything in his office," Hermione noted to Remus.

"I'm sure he would if he had anything to hide," said Remus wisely. As they stepped into his office, Hermione saw the scars on Remus's face in a much better light. There were two running across the entire length, slightly lighter and raised to distinguish them from the rest of the skin. There were multiple little pink/white scratches littering his jaw line, seeping onto his neck and chest.

_Hermione's eyes widened with interest as she examined and traced the healed cuts and scrapes that graffitied her new husbands body. He looked at her warily, as if he thought she would be scared and run from him because of what he was cursed to be. Hermione actually thought the opposite, and inwardly praised him on his courage and stability. She found the scars beautiful._

"Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Lupin, I was hoping I would get a chance to talk to you," Dumbledore said, his familiar eye twinkle shining bright in the morning sun.

"Yes, Severus reluctantly delivered the message. What is it that you wanted to speak about?" Remus inquired, hoping for the best but thinking the worst.

"Sit, sit," Dumbledore said softly, motioning his hand towards the comfortable armchairs in front of his desk. Hermione and Remus sat, both of their minds in constant action.

"I called you two here to discuss something," Dumbledore started. "That man really knew how to drag things out," thought Remus, annoyed. "I've realized that it won't be the easiest keeping your relationship a secret from the students, and I request your permission to notify them of the change during the welcoming speech on the first of September," he asked.

"Whatever you need to do, Sir," Hermione said quickly, sparing a quick glance at Remus who looked fairly calm.

"It would get out anyways, and I suppose it would be better that it came from you," Remus agreed.

"Splendid! Now, the Ministry requires I remove Mrs. Lupin from your Defence Against the Dark Arts class, and-"

"Please, Sir, how will I get a job? The Ministry requires at least an E in all classes, not that I'd work there, of course, but-" Hermione stopped suddenly. She turned her head and saw Remus laughing under his breath, his eyes full of mirth. Hermione raised an eyebrow. "What?" she demanded.

Dumbledore spoke before Remus had a chance to, smiling gleefully. "But, I have negotiated with them," he began. Hermione motioned for him to start speaking again and expectantly tilted her head.

"You will be allowed to attend his classes, but I will be marking your work and testing you separately."

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, DADA was one of her favourite classes, and she couldn't get a job without it. The rest of the meeting proceeded with them engaging in conversation about anything and everything. After an hour, Hermione decided that she would head down to breakfast since they had started on the subject of quidditch. Remus promised to meet her there in fifteen minutes and hurried back to their exciting quidditch talk.

The Great Hall was empty as Hermione opened the massive oak doors. She had expected Harry to be up, or at least Ginny. It was a few minutes until she realized why they might end up sleeping the day away. Snape surely hadn't given them hangover potions, and they were probably battling with terrible headaches. She thought of brewing them some mild ones, and decided that she would wait for Remus to show up and head down to the Potions classroom to make the potion. It was the least she could do for everyone, as they had helped her tremendously with the wedding.

Exactly twenty minutes had passed since Hermione left Dumbledore's grand office and Remus was nowhere to be found. She quickly pulled out some spare parchment, a quill and an ink bottle and jotted down a speedy note specifying to Remus where she had gone, in case he worried. She set it down neatly on his plate and bounded out of the hall, determined to finish the large batch of potion before lunch. She wandered down the halls towards the dungeons, to seek out Snape and ask him for permission to make use of his classroom. Hermione was lost in thought as she stumbled into a hard, yet soft, mass of black. She was sitting on her bruised butt and her bag and its contents were strewn all over the place.

"Miss Granger-"

"Lupin," Hermione corrected.

"I would advise you to watch where you are going, or there will be points taken away," Snape lectured, standing over her and seeming oblivious to the fact that she was sprawled on the floor, covered in books and the things she kept in her bag. 'He could at least help me up.' Hermione rolled her eyes and tried to stand up. As she was getting up, she toppled over once again. 'My poor bum,' she thought. The pain from last night mixed with her fall was going to cause her extreme agony later. Snape smirked and held out his right arm for her to grasp, since she seemed unable to do it herself. Hermione reluctantly took his hand and heaved herself up, brushing the dust from her robes. With a flick of her wand, the contents of her bag were all in place, and her bag was slung over her shoulder.

"Sorry, Sir," she mumbled. Snape gave her another smirk and spoke again.

"Why are you heading this way? You do realize that these are the dungeons, or are you a bigger dunderhead than I thought?" Snape inquired teasingly.

"Actually, Sir, I was looking for you," Hermione said as she remembered why she was there. Snape corked a brow and Hermione took it as a motion to continue. "I was going to ask you if I could use the Potions classroom to brew something. I won't make a mess or bother you, I promise."

"Why don't you use the cauldron in your quarters?" Snape asked smartly. Hermione felt slightly foolish, she hadn't even considered the set-up in her rooms. A blush the shade of vermillion crept it's way up her neck, and stained her cheeks. She muttered an apology for being stupid, and left her professor standing in the corridor with a dominant smile on his usually angry face.

"Miss Granger!" a voice called, directed to Hermione. She had given up on correcting her surname, as no one was seeming to take to it. She looked around and recognized the voice as Professor McGonagall.

"Is everything alright, Professor?" Hermione asked, worried. What if something had happened to Harry? Did the Death Eaters get him? Was he having the visions again?

"Come with me, quickly!" McGonagall said, disregarding Hermione's question. Hermione followed hurriedly, and they stopped in front of the door of the hospital wing. Hermione immediately thought the worst. Something _had _happened to Harry. 'It can't!' she thought. Harry was her rock. He had always been there for her since the incident with the troll in the bathroom in their first year. The door swung open, revealing a very alive and well looking Harry, and a solemn Dumbledore. Hermione ran up and flung her arms around Harry, thanking Merlin that he was alive.

"Harry, I thought you were in trouble! I had all of these scenarios in my head of-" she stopped short. Hermione was looking at the patient in the bed with wide eyes. They looked barely alive. She studied the face, which was almost unrecognizable in its paleness, but she was able to make out the defining scars. "Remus," she breathed, unsure of what to do next. Dumbledore waited patiently as she registered just who exactly was laying, hardly breathing, in the dreary hospital bed. He motioned for Harry to speak, as Hermione was most likely to respond to him rather than her Headmaster.

"Hermione, he's alive," Harry clarified, Hermione's expression lightening somewhat. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and looked at Harry expectantly. "We found him like this one corridor over from Professor Dumbledore's office."

"Madam Pomfrey has run some tests in the time it took Minerva to fetch you, and it has become apparent that your husband was, in fact, poisoned," Dumbledore said, the twinkle in his eyes slightly duller than usual. He wasn't smiling, but looking completely serious. "Essence of silver," he said, curing a side of Hermione's curiosity.

"How?" Hermione asked, incapable of multi-syllable words at the moment. In her mind, she was scanning the possibilities of how he could have been poisoned. Essence of silver worked two hours after ingested, and did nothing when it was applied topically. She calculated two hours before Remus would be leaving Dumbledore's office, and- "The tea! How could I have been so dumb?"

"Excuse me, Miss Granger?" McGonagall said, speaking up for the first time since they entered the room.

"Yes, yes it all makes sense! We had tea before leaving for your-" she pointed her chin at Dumbledore "office this morning. But why wasn't I poisoned? Silver does have an effect to non-werewolves, and why didn't I experience it?"

Dumbledore looked surprised, yet happy at the same time. 'How can he be happy at a time like this?' Hermione wondered. Silver was fatal to werewolves, and it was a miracle that he was still alive. Hermione could have sworn she heard Dumbledore say "Wonderful," as he strode towards Madam Pomfrey's office.

"Miss Granger, was there anyone with access to your rooms this morning?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes, but only Professor Snape, and I don't-"

"OF COURSE IT WAS HIM! He and Lupin hate each other! We have to go find him," Harry exclaimed, a look of rage taking over his face.

"Harry, do you really think that Professor Snape would poison Remus?" Hermione asked logically, leaving Harry looking dumbfounded. Harry mumbled a "No," and hung his head slightly in shame. He was always jumping on the first chance to catch Snape, just like Snape jumped on the first chance to dock points or give Harry detentions.

"Do you think someone painted it on the teacups?" Harry inquired, once he had gotten over his stretch of silence.

"No, no of course not. How would they know which one Remus would take? And he obviously would have smelled it in the tea, although it's almost undetectable while powdered, so that must mean…" Hermione started, calculating in her head again. "That must mean," she said slowly, repeating herself. "It was in the tea bags. He only drinks peppermint, so they must have just put it in those ones."

"So we're back to square one, anyone could have swapped the tea bags, and it doesn't help that almost everyone was intoxicated last night," McGonagall said smartly.

"I guess the biggest thing is," Harry started slowly. "That whoever did this has access to the castle, your private rooms and is out to kill," he finished sadly.

A/N: Sorry it took so long to update, school just started. I have a whole plot planned out in my head at the moment. Funny how inspiration can show up at your front door at the oddest times.


	11. A Kiss

Chapter 10

It had been three days until Remus awoke.

Three days she stayed by his side.

Three days she cried over him.

Three days she secluded herself from the rest of the world.

"'Mione?" came a hoarse, quiet voice. Hermione's head shot up. She was beginning to doze off for the first time, since she hadn't slept a wink in over seventy-two hours. Hermione rushed over to him, tears of happiness silently falling down her face.

"Why you sad?" Remus asked, voice choppy and unable to make out full sentences. Hermione smiled through her tears, he was always putting others before him.

"I'm not sad, I'm happy," Hermione said, her voice still shaky from crying. He held out his hand to her, and she took it gratefully. How wonderful it was to have him back. She had been so lonely those past few days. Lonely and worried. Remus smiled and tried to laugh at her antics. 'Why is she like this?' he thought to himself.

"What am I doing here?" Remus asked, looking around the room for the first time. Hermione took a deep breath.

"You were poisoned," she answered simply, hoping he didn't ask any more questions.

"How?" Hermione's face fell. This was the question she was dreading. It was all her fault that he ended up in the Hospital Wing. If she hadn't gone and made that tea then he wouldn't be here right now. He would be at home, with her, reading a book by the fire.

"Well, you see, someone slipped essence of silver in your tea," she started shakily.

"Impossible. I would have smelled it a mile away," he defended.

"It was dehydrated and slipped into your tea bags," she said guiltily. "Oh, Remus, it's all my fault!" she cried.

"You did nothing wrong, Hermione. I would have made tea that night, anyways," he reasoned, trying to cheer her up. This worked slightly, but she still felt horrid. She felt him grip her hand tighter and her face softened considerably. He probably didn't want to deal with a guilt-ridden, teenaged girl. She decided to pretend to be happy, for Remus's sake.

"Have I missed anything? How long was I out for?" Remus questioned.

"Oh, I wouldn't know, I've only been out to take baths and brew potions. But you've been unconscious for around three days," Hermione said, the smile still on her face. Remus's eyes bulged out of his head. 'Three days? She hasn't been out in three days? I bet she hasn't even eaten,' he thought, eyeing her. He was right. She had horrible bags under her eyes and her face was washed out.

"Have you slept at all, Hermione?" Remus asked, true concern showing on his face. That wasn't right. He needed to get her some sleep and food as soon as he got out.

"Well, um, I-" she cut herself off. "No," she answered simply. Hermione looked in Remus's eyes and saw disapproval mixing with his concerned features. "Sorry," she added quickly.

"Hermione, you know you have to sleep," he started, but Hermione spoke up.

"You know, you must be starved! Let's go down to our quarters and I'll summon an elf," she said, trying to change the subject. Remus decided to let her get away with this one. He'd force her to sleep after they had both eaten. What was really bothering him, was the fact that someone tried to poison him. He hadn't a clue on who had done it, but reasoned with himself that it had to be someone with access to their private rooms. They could have switched the tea bags and no one would have noticed.

"Oh, I should probably tell Professor Dumbledore," Hermione trailed off. She produced a wandless Patronus and sent it off with a message to Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape. Remus stared in awe.

"Where did you learn to do wandless magic?" he asked, shocked at her abilities. He knew she was the most brilliant witch of the age, but he hadn't any idea that she could do wandless magic! It took decades of practice, and she was an 18 year old girl.

"I've always been able to," she said, confused. Hermione knew everything about magic, but lacked information in the realm of the wandless type. "Can't everyone?"

"No. No! This is amazing, Hermione! The only people I know capable of wandless magic in this school are Dumbledore, Severus, and, well, you," he said, exasperated. 'Wow,' was all he could think.

Hermione felt extremely special. She loved being praised and also being different. She reckoned this was why she did so well in school; she was always trying to prove that a Muggleborn was, indeed, good enough or even better, than a Pureblood. Her heart swelled with pride. She smiled big and the bags under her eyes disappeared.

Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape swept into the Hospital Wing, beaming at their student and colleague.

"Ah, we thought you'd never wake up," Dumbledore said, the twinkle shining brighter than the sun in his eyes. "Miss Granger here has been spending every minute here with you," he explained, leaving Hermione blushing. When he said it that way it seemed almost stalkerish.

After about a half hour of talking, explaining and asking questions, Remus and Hermione were free to go back to their quarters. Hermione had expected Remus to be weak, but he was bursting with energy. "Werewolf thing," he had said. Hermione summoned Slater, their personal House Elf, and he got to work making their dinner, as it was about half six. After they had eaten, Remus had somehow conned Hermione into resting, which developed into a deep, undisturbed sleep. He flicked off their lights and got into their comfortable, four poster bed. Remus pulled Hermione into his arms and slept along side her, having a wonderful, dreamless sleep.

That morning Hermione woke up at dawn.

As she stepped out of the shower and looked in the mirror, something felt very, very wrong. She looked closer, examining her face, and stared straight into her honey depths. 'This is it,' she thought. Ever since Ginny had preformed those beauty charms, Hermione felt like a piece of plastic. She loved the hair and all, because it was hers, but the rest of her was completely fake, like those children at the beauty pageants back home. She wondered if Remus would notice her steps backwards in appearance, and decided to give it a go. She removed all of the charms, leaving her hair, and took another long, hard look at herself. She focused on her chocolate brown eyes. These suited her much better than the golden ones. These ones held emotion; love, pain, concern. They held her past.

She walked back into the adjoining bedroom, and noticed Remus wasn't in bed. 'Odd,' she thought. He was a late sleeper, and it was barely past seven. She padded around the rooms, and stopped in the kitchen. He was waving his wand at all of their food. Hermione realized that he didn't want to take another chance with poisoning. She crept up on him, and just as she was barely a foot away, he spoke.

"Good morning, love," he said, his back still turned. Hermione grumbled. She could never sneak up on him without him knowing. 'Stupid werewolf,' she thought. Remus laughed, turned around, and pulled her into a hug, erasing the scowl from her face.

"Taking precautions, I see," Hermione noted.

"Better safe than sorry. My mum used to say that all the time," he explained with a sad smile on his face. Hermione knew that he missed his mother deeply. She missed her mother too.

They made plans to go down to the Great Hall to eat, and then take a walk around the lake. Hermione briefly wondered why he was acting so husbandly until she realized, 'Oh, he _is _my husband.'

They took their time eating, and were now making their way down to the Black Lake. Remus had gallantly held his hand out for Hermione, which she took blushingly.

"Hermione, I've been thinking," Remus started slowly, twisting his hand playfully in hers. "How many people have you showed your wandless magic to?"

"Oh, none, just you. Well, I guess my parents knew, but they were just Muggles, so," she trailed off. Remus caught the use of past-tense when she spoke about her parents, but didn't think anything of it. Talk of her parents just reminded him to ask her to owl them later. He looked her square in the eye.

"I don't think you should tell anyone, except Dumbledore, of course. If Voldemort were to find out, there would be no doubt he would try to abduct you and use you against us," he told her. Hermione had to agree, she had done some research about wandless magic, and to be born with it was almost as uncommon as being born as a Metamorphmagus.

"Okay, Remus," Hermione said. They sat by the tree, watching and laughing at the giant squid who was showing off and doing tricks for them.

Remus looked at Hermione, almost studiously, and she felt a blush creeping up her neck.

"What?" she asked, slightly flustered by his staring.

"You look very beautiful today, Hermione," he said genuinely. The blush making it's way up her neck broke into full swing. Remus let out a deep, baritone laugh. 'He _had _noticed,' Hermione thought gleefully. She felt like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. He really did accept her for who she was.

Hermione took a bite out of her toast that she had brought from breakfast. Remus looked at her again, his laugh starting up. Hermione corked an eyebrow at him and he continued on laughing. She was beginning to get annoyed.

"You have marmalade on your lips, you know," he said through his laughs. Hermione's blush reappeared as she scrambled for a serviette to wipe it off, when Remus grabbed her hand and stopped her. He leaned in to her face, and brushed his lips against hers, licking the marmalade off. Hermione's eyes widened. As if reliving their wedding ceremony, they both pulled each other back and began kissing fiercely. It was a full minute until either of them came up for air, and dove back into their snogging session. Remus gently laid Hermione on the grass, his mouth not leaving hers, and propped himself over her. She tangled her hands in his shaggy, perfect length hair.

Neither of them noticed a pair of twinkling blue eyes or a pair of dull black ones staring out at them from the front of the castle.

"Remus," Hermione started, her voice shaky.

"Yes, Hermione?" Remus asked, his blue-grey eyes full of laughter. His eyes were very peculiar. Usually, outside of Hogwarts, they were a dull grey. Hermione had noticed that when he was eating right, sleeping and happy, his eyes turned more of a blueish colour. Around the full moon, they were amber. That was Hermione's favourite. The amber suited his sandy blonde hair, and gave him a bit of a boost.

"Well, I was wondering what happens when they repeal the law," she said uneasily. She didn't know what to think. Neither of them had wanted the law in the first place, but Hermione felt sad at the idea of getting a divorce and diminishing the special connection they share. 'What special connection, you loon, it was just a kiss,' Hermione had thought. Maybe she was just imagining it, but she thought that there was something more to them than two friends trapped in these circumstances.

"You remember that you cannot break a marriage bond, yes?" he inquired smartly, his professor side showing through. Hermione liked that side of him, as it was even more so intelligent and a tad bit firm. She nodded a yes, wondering where he was going with that.

"I suppose the Ministry will have to find a way to separate married couples, but if they don't, you're stuck with me for life," he said, chuckling. Hermione laughed with him. She certainly wouldn't mind spending the rest of her life with him. 'Whoa, where did _that _come from?' she thought. She told herself repeatedly that it was because they were very good friends, but her unease won out.

It was official. Hermione Granger-Lupin had a crush on her husband.

A/N: Hey guys! This one's a bit short, but it was really just filler. How about we make it… fifty reviews until the next chapter? Just four more reviews! You can do it! Don't worry, I haven't forgotten your need for smut -laughs-

And to** forestreject**, actually, they did make the deadline. Could you not tell from the (terrible, I tried!) innuendos and clues? Oh well.


	12. The Announcement

Chapter 11

The weeks had passed leading up to September the first.

Hermione and Remus had spent almost every hour of their free time together, may it be eating, drinking tea, walking, reading, practicing duelling, or getting ready for the upcoming year. They had also kissed quite a bit, but Hermione wouldn't admit it to anyone. Molly Weasley and Dumbledore were ecstatic that they were getting along this well, and did everything in their power to encourage it.

There had only been one incident, and it seemed that Hermione was a target as well. She and Remus had been up on the Astronomy tower, looking at the stars (And maybe snogging. Okay, fine, just snogging.) when Hermione had the sudden urge to jump over the balcony. Remus knew immediately that it wasn't her, because her eyes had drained into a pale blue. He hadn't realized what she was doing until she had propped herself on the railing and bent down, preparing to fall. He thanked Merlin for his quick thinking, because he managed to remember a charm he had watched James use on Snape during their days at Hogwarts; Levicorpus. He had grabbed her around the waist and carried her, running, to the Headmaster's eccentric gold office. She had been possessed, but not put under the Imperius curse. Dumbledore had admitted gravely that she needed to learn Occlumency from Professor Snape.

_"Miss Granger, you're late," Snape's bored sounding voice drawled._

_"Sir, please, I'm five minutes early," Hermione tried to explain, to no avail._

_"I'm here wasting my valuable time on you, under the Headmaster's orders, and you show up late." Hermione studied his face. The ever-present bags under his eyes seemed darker, his skin sallower. 'Must be having a bad day,' she thought as she silently took her seat._

_"Miss Granger, explain the purpose of Occlumency to me."_

_"Occlumency is the act of closing one's mind to Legilimency. It keeps a Legilimens from entering the mind and accessing memories and thoughts, as well as possessing and controlling one's mind," Hermione stated strongly._

_"Almost copied word for word from your textbook," he said, rolling his eyes. "Close your mind, Miss Granger."_

_"Lupin," Hermione said through gritted teeth._

_"I believe I told you to close your mind," he demanded, ignoring her protest. Hermione imagined herself building a strong, brick wall, similar to the Hogwarts ones, and thought of nothing but darkness on either side of it._

_Snape pointed his wand to her and said, "Legilimens!". She felt him working his way around her wall, scanning for faults and cracks. She felt a hand knock it down and precious memories flew to the surface. 'Shit!' she thought. She had forgotten to use glue while building her wall. She and Ginny discussing boys, hers and Remus's lengthy kisses around the castle, Dumbledore speaking with her about a tragic accident that involved her par-_

_"NO!" Hermione screamed, pushing him out of her mind with all of her might. She was sweating slightly, and didn't notice the disgusted look on her professor's face. _

_"That wasn't terrible," he said, sitting back down at his desk. As Hermione reached his door, she could have sworn she heard, "Until tomorrow, Mrs. Lupin."_

_Their classes carried on like this for two weeks until Hermione was strong enough to completely push him out of her mind and seal the cracks._

Hermione sat fidgeting at the Gryffindor table after taking a couple bites out of her pudding. She was nervous about the reaction they'd get, after Dumbledore had spilled the beans on Hermione and her professor's marriage. Harry, being observant as always, was the first to notice.

"Hermione, it will be fine. Everyone knows that you had no choice," Harry had said, reassuring her. Hermione had smiled meekly at this, but still felt like flobberworms were chewing at her stomach as if it were made of lettuce.

"Whuz 'ong wif 'oo?" Ron asked through his food. Hermione shot him a look of revolution and was in the middle of telling him off when Dumbledore interrupted.

"Welcome to another wonderful year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you all the rules, which are posted in your common rooms. Fanged Frisbees, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products, and six-hundred-ninety-eight others, again, posted in your respective common rooms, will be confiscated. I would like to announce a new addition to the staff, Professor Sirius Black," there was a loud round of applause, and some whooping from Ron, Ginny and Harry. Hermione was too nervous too move an inch.

"He will be assistant to Professor Lupin-" more cheering, "in Defence Against the Dark Arts. As for Head Girl and Boy, we have Miss Hermione Granger-" even _more _applause, if possible, "and Mr. Draco Malfoy." All of the cheering stopped, except for the Slytherin table. Three quarters of the Hall stared wide-eyed, open-mouthed at Dumbledore, wondering why he would do such a thing.

"As you all have heard, I'm sure, the new Marriage Law came into effect a month back. This law doesn't affect any of you, of course, except for one student." He waited for the students to quiet down, now speaking in hushed whispers. Hermione thought she was going to faint.

"Miss Hermione Granger, aged 18, was forcibly married three weeks ago. We are lucky that her husband stepped up, as she would be spending her life in Azkaban if he hadn't." By now the students were all talking freely, the girls feeling sorry for her, and the boys wondering who the lucky bloke was.

"We are extremely grateful that she is able to finish her schooling, alongside her husband, Professor Remus Lupin," Dumbledore finished, smiling widely.

All eyes were on Hermione, flicking to Remus, back to Hermione. She glanced desperately up at Remus, noticing the same look on his face. He pulled it together and winked at her, giving her a slight smile before looking away. Hermione saw Harry, Ron and Ginny all smiling mischievously at each other, but she paid them no attention.

"Is it true?" inquired the sharp Ravenclaws.

"Are you shagging?" whispered the startled Gryffindors.

"Does he have a tattoo?" asked the mild Hufflepuffs.

"Is he out of his mind? I would have chucked her in Azkaban!" called the Slytherins.

_BOOM!_

The whole Great Hall was filled with a puff of black smoke. Hermione noticed a pair of strikingly green eyes winking at her from behind the fog. She immediately understood. Hermione sprinted up to the Head Table, careful not to trip or disturb anyone. She pulled a startled Remus out of his seat and they dashed down to the oak doors, escaping just before the smoke disappeared.

"Hermione? What are you doing?" Remus asked through his coughs.

"You would think being best friends with the famous Harry Potter would prepare you for the spotlight, but it really doesn't. I had to get away, I'm sor-"

"No! No, don't be sorry. Thank you, actually, I was getting even worse looks than usual," Remus thanked her.

"Than usual?" Hermione questioned. 'What does he mean by that,' she thought.

"Well, you know I'm a werewolf, right?" Remus specified slowly, making Hermione feel extremely stupid. 'Obviously,' she thought. Hermione blushed and looked down, ashamed of her overreaction.

"They still stare?" she asked, concerned.

"All the time," Remus answered sadly. Hermione hated the discrimination in the magical world. Muggleborns, mixed-breeds, House Elves.

"You know what," Hermione started, anger bubbling up through her stomach, "just because you aren't like everyone else doesn't mean they should treat you any different! I'm sick and tired of it, and if we want to come out on top in this war, everyone better start putting their damn differences aside, and work the fuck together!"

Remus was astonished. 'So she _doesn't _care that I'm a werewolf! I actually have a chance with her- wait… We're already married!' he thought as he did a little victory dance in his mind. 'Now if only I could be young and handsome for her, I'd do anything to see her happy.'

"Thank you, Hermione, but really, they're not going to change. I'd like to think so, but it's been over thirty years since I was bitten, and I still get negative looks," he said gratefully, yet sadly.

"Well, you know what I have to say to that? Screw them! Screw them and their standards! We don't need them Remus, we've got each other," she said sincerely, taking his hands in her own. Remus's smile looked like it was eating his face. Hermione thought Remus looked, well, there was no other word for it, _beautiful _when he smiled. He looked at least ten years younger, and an age happier. Hermione smiled just as big as Remus, showing off her perfect teeth that she had obtained in her fourth year.

After the Peruvian Instant Darkness powder had died down, no one seemed to notice their Head Girl and DADA professor missing.

"What was that?" Dean Thomas asked his best friend, Seamus Finnigan.

"I haven't the foggiest, but that was bloody amazing!" he replied, grinning.

Harry, Ron and Ginny all looked at each other, each with the same smug smile on their faces. They had tossed the powder in the Great Hall to give Hermione and Lupin an escape route, which worked famously, if you were to ask them. Everyone had forgotten about the announcement of a teacher-student marriage, and were now animatedly discussing what could have caused the black out. The most popular topic was Death Eaters, and you could hear Draco Malfoy and his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, boasting about how they fought off a swarm of Dementors that had appeared from the fog.

"Students, settle down," came Dumbledore's booming, magically amplified voice. The students quieted immediately, as no one, except the Slytherins maybe, would disrespect their loved Headmaster's orders. Dumbledore smiled at the two Weasley's and Harry before resuming his speech.

"Wonderful prank, children!" Dumbledore exclaimed, clapping his hands, much to the disapproval of Professors McGonagall and Snape, sitting on his left and right. "It looks like we have another group of Weasley twins in the making," he said knowingly, the twinkle shining brilliantly in his eyes. Dumbledore was always soft on the Golden Trio and their friends, because they deserved a bit of a break sometimes. They were always up fighting the Dark forces, and he tried his best to make Hogwarts a home for them.

"Off to bed, now. Look to your Prefects for direction!" McGonagall said sternly, as she had had enough of the students shenanigans. Harry, Ron and Ginny all departed the table at the same time, going in different directions from their fellow Gryffindors. They walked towards the library, and made a sharp turn, finding themselves in front of the portrait of the wolf, dog and stag. Harry knocked three times, two short and one long. That was their code so they knew who was at the door. Almost instantaneously, the portrait door swung open, leaving a bright looking Hermione standing in front of them.

"Come in," she said, stepping aside and gesturing inside. "Remus! It's Harry, Ron and Ginny!"

Remus stepped out of another room, to greet his favourite students. He said his hellos, and waited until Ron and Ginny were seated in the study to speak to Harry.

"Thanks, mate," he said. Harry made a confused look.

"With what?" he asked with a smile threatening to show through his facade.

"You're a horrid actor, you know that, right? James was too, you know," he said, recalling memories of James trying to impress Lily. He involuntarily smiled, wishing his best friend was back home, alive and well.

"And I'm also the Chosen One!" Harry said cheerfully, scampering off into the study to join his friends before Remus could retaliate. Remus chuckled to himself, thinking of everything Harry has been through, yet he's still as happy as Hagrid with a boatful of dangerous, fire-breathing, spiky dragons and other insane creatures. Remus had ruled out that it was an act, simply because Harry had no talent in drama whatsoever.

Hermione had summoned an elf for tea, and was busy levitating the tray towards the study where her best friends and husband sat. She entered the study, and almost dropped the tea when she saw Remus. 'No one saw,' she thought gratefully. She repeatedly told herself that it was just a crush, but ended up giving in by the time she had set the tea down on the coffee table. Remus gave her another one of his brilliant smiles, and waved her over to his seat. She climbed on his lap, mindful of the scalding hot tea he held in his hands.

Ginny thought it was adorable. Harry thought it was weird, but liveable. Ron was too busy stuffing his face to notice.

They chatted about anything that came up for an hour until past curfew. Remus laid a now sleeping Hermione on their bed, and showed the Gryffindors the way through their portrait gallery; he didn't want them to be caught in the halls. He bid them a good night, and promised that they could come by anytime they liked. He cleaned up the tea Hermione had spilled when she drifted off to sleep with his wand, and sent the dishes down to their kitchen.

He looked at Hermione, who was still laying peacefully atop the comforter in her school robes. 'What does she wear to bed, again?' Remus thought. He opened her closet, flicking through her clothes. Nothing. He pulled the drawers, and came across her undergarment drawer. He blushed a dangerous vermillion and shut the drawer without another look. 'Where does she keep her pyjamas?" he thought. She usually wore flannel, even though it was Summer, full-length pyjamas. Remus decided that she was just modest.

He crossed the length of the room to his closet, pulling out an oversized, old shirt for her to wear. Remus felt a tad uncomfortable about dressing her, but they had of course seen each other naked. Hermione had expressed her hate of the switching spell, saying that it made the flesh under her skin itch. He reasoned that he was going to see everything, one way or another. Flashbacks of his wedding night came into view.

_Hermione was sprawled on their large, four poster bed on her back. She had a drunken grin on her face, and was already fumbling with her shoes, trying to rid herself of the torturous stilettos that he had forgotten to take off. Remus sauntered up to her, climbing up to join her. He had that same drunken look, as he had just indulged in one-too-many Firewhiskeys. _

_"Remus, would you undo my sandals?" she asked, her brown eyes full of frustration and lust. Remus nodded and immediately went to work unbuckling her shoes. He chucked them over his shoulder, leaving a giggling, barefoot Hermione that had moved on to the buttons on her flannel pyjamas._

_"Let me," he started. He gently tugged her hands away, slightly pinning them to the bed. He worked his fingers on the annoying buttons, wanting nothing more than to just rip her clothes off and be done with it. As he reached the last button, he slid her arms through her sleeves, pulling her out of the constricting bedclothes. _

Remus unhooked the clasp of her school robes, pulling her arms through the thick, baggy sleeves. He walked over to the rack and hung it up neatly, smoothing the creases. He nimbly pushed her grey jumper off, setting it aside on the bed, he'd put it away later. He twisted her skirt around, opening the button and sliding the zipper down. He kept his eyes on her face as he pulled it down, throwing it beside the jumper. 'What the bloody hell is up with all of these damned buttons?' he thought to himself. He pushed each button from its button hole, finally reaching the final one. He pushed it aside to reveal a lacy, red bra. Remus corked an eyebrow. What happened to modest, conservative Hermione? The Hermione he knew wouldn't buy such a degrading thing. He cut off his train of thought and quickly slipped on his baggy shirt. He tucked her into bed, the peaceful smile still on her face.

'Well that wasn't so bad, was it?' he reasoned. He promptly followed by shedding all of his clothes, except for his boxers, and magicking the strewn clothes into their respective homes. He pulled back the covers and quietly set himself down on the bed, preparing himself for nightmares after the long day.

He pulled Hermione close, trying hard not to wake her, and she unconsciously snuggled into his arms, entwining her legs in his.

He fell asleep to her steady breaths, drawing in and out, lulling him into a well deserved slumber.

_"Hermione, love, where are you?" Remus asked, standing at the beginning of a cold, dark hallway. He was panicking. He had lost Hermione._

_"Remus, stop fretting! I'm over here," her voice exclaimed. It sounded so musical, so pure. Remus followed the beautiful laughter until the end of the corridor. In his wake was Hermione. Well, a version of Hermione. She looked like a fallen angel, with her eyes rimmed in charcoal and her leather attire. He reached out a hand to touch her, but she backed away, a horrified look on her face. _

_"Come back! I've only just found you!" Remus whined, running after Hermione who was sprinting at top-speed in the other direction. 'I guess the corridor doesn't end here,' he thought. It seemed to go on forever. She ran until he was out of breath, and he stopped._

_"Love, please!" he yelled, trying to get her attention. Fallen-Hermione turned abruptly, and stared him in the eyes. Remus let out a gasp. She was shifting before his eyes, her skin losing it's beautiful olive tone, her hair shrinking back into her skull. What he was left with was definitely _not _his Hermione. Her eyes were the worst. Red like blood. It started laughing, looking at a heap on the floor. Voldemort, cackling still, walked backwards and set off at a brisk walk towards the seemingly brand new door._

_Remus rushed to the lump on the ground. It was shaking madly. He crouched down, turning it over so he could see the front. Hermione's lifeless brown eyes stared up at him, glazed over. He felt the pinpricks of tears in his eyes and let them loose. They were spilling onto the floor, mixing with her pooled crimson blood. He pushed her silken locks out of her eyes. He checked for a pulse. Nothing. His heart broke, right then and there. He felt as if the Dementors had taken his soul, via Kiss. He positioned himself beside Hermione, pulling her into an embrace. She was cold as ice. He couldn't take it anymore. _

_Remus screamed. He screamed and screamed until there was no more left to scream._

"NO!" exclaimed a startled voice, causing Hermione to shoot straight up in bed. She spotted Remus writhing, his fists clenching. She shook his shoulders with all of the force she could muster, and he finally woke from his nightmare.

"Remus, what did you dre-" Hermione started.

"You're alive," Remus breathed as he pulled Hermione into a bone-crushing hug. Hermione started laughing.

"Of course I'm alive, you great git! Now go back to sleep. Classes tomorrow!" she said tiredly, still laughing. Remus gave her a soft kiss before returning to his slumber. Hermione laid her head back on her soft, cotton covered pillow. She used to have nightmares too. They stopped when Remus held her in her sleep. She snuggled closer into him, removing her head from the pillow in turn for Remus's shoulder. She set her head in the crook of his neck, listening to his over-active werewolf heart beating.

Remus weaved his fingers in hers, earning a soft hum in return. He took one last look at her very alive, yet very sleepy, chocolate brown eyes. He made a promise to himself to never let her go.

He pulled her even closer this time.

A/N: Ta-da! As promised! I can honestly say that there _will _be more action in the later chapters, I'm just developing the characters a little more before I slowly adjust them into the situations. I really don't like those stories where they jump into random shit. Take some time to smell the roses, because Winter's coming soon!

And to:

**DramioneLover123 **you, my dear friend, are exceedingly observant. I like your Ravenclaw traits. ;) (You're on the right track, though!)


	13. Calming Draught

Chapter 12

"Wake up, honey!" Hermione's overly sweet voice rang out, awakening Remus from his pleasant-nightmare-free slumber. He lifted the covers off of his face and opened an eye, looking at his wife questioningly. "Classes!" she sang, and he noticed that she was sitting on him.

"No," he mumbled, and pulled the sheets back over his face, burying his head in the pillow. Hermione giggled and yanked them back, anchoring them under her knees where he couldn't reach them. "What time is it, anyways?" he asked, one eye still closed as he surveyed Hermione. She seemed to be showered, as her hair was damp, but still in her nightclothes. Those were _definitely _not the old pyjamas he dressed her in last night. This was a silky, pale blue number that hit mid-thigh.

"Half-six," she said cheerily. Remus groaned and closed his one eye.

"Are you mad, woman?" he protested, clearly not up for the challenge of getting out of bed. Hermione couldn't blame him, as she had taken a Caffeine Draught when she awoke half an hour ago. She decided to wake him up the natural way, smirking evilly to herself.

"Well, I thought since we have about," she glanced at her watch as if she already knew the time, which she did, "an hour until we have to start getting ready. Whatever do you propose we do with the time?" she asked, feigning innocence. The devious smile that was still on her face widened as Remus's eyes popped open. He grinned and rolled her over onto her back, pinning her with his elbows. She giggled and said "If _this _is what it takes to wake you up every morning, I'm all for it." She was silenced with a kiss, and she laughed inwardly. He always found a way to get what he wanted, be it by simply showing her an interesting book or making her tea.

"I'll hold you to it," he breathed as he leaned in for another kiss.

Hermione ended up needing another shower after their newly instated morning ritual, and her and Remus were ten minutes late to breakfast. They walked hand in hand, as they always did, but the fact that students were in their presence slipped their minds.

"Just ignore them, Love," Remus offered as he dropped her off at the Gryffindor table, next to Harry and Ron, and across from Ginny. He stole a quick kiss that left the students speechless, jaws hanging open. He smirked at a flustered Hermione and thought 'If you can't fight it, embrace it.' He strode up to his seat at the staff's table, winking at McGonagall who gave him a scandalized look.

"Hermione? Hermione! 'Mioneeeeee," Ron called out, breaking Hermione from her trance. He donned a smug smile at her frown.

"Ronald, I told you not to call me that," she chided. She really did hate when people called her 'Mione. It sounded simply stupid to her.

"You let Lupin call you 'Mione," Harry pointed out smoothly. Hermione glared at Harry, silencing him with a simple look. Harry went pale and looked down. He knew what happened when people bothered his best friend. She was particularly good at hexes. Hermione was particularly good at everything, actually. Ginny snorted into her oatmeal at the expression on her boyfriend's face.

"You… Look… Constipated!" she blurted through her laughs. Harry brought his eyes to look up at a cackling Ginny, an embarrassed smile on his face. "But I still love you," she clarified quickly, quite seriously. It was Harry's turn to laugh. Ginny was always so careful around him. Harry was under the impression that she thought he would leave her for another girl at any moment. He wouldn't, of course, but she didn't know that. He leaned across the table, knocking over a bowl of sugar, and kissed Ginny speechless.

"Harry! That's my _sister_!" Ron complained. It always grossed him out when he saw Ginny snogging his best mate. Harry blushed and and sat back as Hermione righted the sugar with magic.

"I think it's quite cute, really," Hermione expressed. Ron looked like he was about to vomit, and Harry took it upon himself to save his friend from hurling his breakfast.

"What do we have first, Hermione?" Harry asked. Hermione always knew everyone's schedule, even the second year Slytherins.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts," she said almost immediately. Harry grinned at her. He knew that everyone would be staring at her more, because she would be in the same room as her husband. Hermione paled, she hadn't thought about what she was going to do in class yet.

"Fever Fudge?" Ron asked, holding out a tin of his brother's product. "It doesn't look like you'll need it, though, hey Hermione?" Hermione stood abruptly, spilling over that poor sugar bowl that seemed to be having a bad day.

"If you'll excuse me," she said quietly, sounding terrified. She had ten minutes until class started, roughly enough time for her Calming Draught to take effect. She rushed out of the Great Hall, leaving behind a laughing Ginny, a confused Harry, a hungry Ron and a concerned Remus. Hermione dashed to the DADA classroom, digging into her bag on the way.

"Dittany, nope. Charms book, nope. Lipgloss, wait, lipgloss? I don't even wear lipgloss!" she said impatiently. "Damn you, Ginny!" she cursed as she rifled through her bag, which seemed to be filled to the brim with makeup and hair products. She finally found the minuscule phial and downed it in one go. She tremblingly walked to her normal seat, in the front row, and sat herself down. She strummed her fingers on her textbook, flipping through the pages but not taking in a word.

Finally, the potion started to take effect. She felt a pleasant sensation coursing through her veins, tingling in her blood. She let out a deep breath that she hadn't realized she was holding. As she was calming down, the bell rang and the class flooded in, all of them staring at her. They were unfortunately with the Slytherins today, and Hermione couldn't care less. She could hear whispers from the Gryffindors, and flat out accusations from the Slytherins. A particularly nasty one came from Theodore Nott.

"No wonder her grades are so high, she must be great in the sack," he had said crudely towards her. She had simply smiled and winked at him, leaving him and his Slytherin friends dumbstruck. Never before had someone reacted so kindly and calmly to them, well, except the Hufflepuffs, when they insulted them. Professor Lupin strode into the classroom looking cheery, and interrupting everyones train of thought.

"Good morning, class. I trust your summers all went well?" he said, settling down in front of his desk. He leaned against it, positioning his hands on either side for support and crossing his ankles. Hermione began to wonder if he took a Calming Draught as well, because he seemed as mellow as a hippie with a bag of hemp. The students mumbled in response, clearly unhappy about their first day of classes.

"That's what I like to hear," he said sarcastically, but with a smile. "Today we'll start on with review of the Diricawl. Can someone explain to me what it is?" he inquired. He scanned the room, but no one had their hand up. Well, except for Hermione, of course, but he was so used to it that he didn't even have to look at her. "Mrs. Lupin, enlighten us, will you?" The students looked scandalized at the use of her married surname and title.

"The Diricawl, known as the Dodo bird to Muggles, is a flightless, fat and fluffy bird. It is known to have a tendency to Apparate, if you will, to another area to escape danger," Hermione said smartly.

"Well done, Mrs. Lupin. Five points to Gryffindor," he applauded, and the point increase started a commotion amongst the Slytherins. They believed that he was only giving her points due to their married status, but he proved them otherwise. He cast a pointed look at the Slytherins, daring them to speak up.

"_Professor_, I don't think it's appropriate for you to give Granger points, because it's obvious that you're using favouritism," he said, drawing out the word 'professor' and using Hermione's maiden name purposefully.

"Mr. Malfoy, if I do recall correctly, which I'm positive I do, your Professor Snape unfairly deducts and awards points, and I am merely showing acknowledgement to those who deserve it," he explained calmly, which made Hermione smirk. Malfoy never won, and she wondered why he kept trying. He sunk back into his seat, still flanked by his cronies, and let out a dramatic huff. Remus smiled at him and went back to teaching his lesson.

As they neared the end of the class, Remus sat at his desk, magicking their homework onto the board at the front of the room. "Mrs. Lupin, please stay after class," he said to Hermione, not looking up from the stack of papers on his desk. Hermione wondered how he already had work to mark, as this was his first class of the school year.

"Yes, Professor," she said mildly. She was starting to feel the Calming Draught wear off, and was grateful that the bell rang just in the nick of time for her to start panicking again. She dumped everything haphazardly into her school bag and half-ran, half-walked to Remus's desk. He looked up, his blue-grey eyes seeming as if they were staring right into her soul. 'Does he know Legilimency?' she thought, but decided against it. Her barriers had improved and she would have felt someone prodding at them.

"Hermione, are you feeling alright?" he inquired, still staring her in the eyes. He had positioned himself so he was leaning back against his chair, one ankle crossed over the other knee.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," she said wobbly, the Calming Draught completely diminishing from her system. He raised an eyebrow.

"Do you need the Hospital Wing, you can hardly stand," he exclaimed as he rushed over, with animal speed, to hold her up. Just at that moment, her knees gave out, causing Remus to have no choice but to hoist her up and carry her in a bridal carry. He laughed inwardly at the irony. He looked down at Hermione, and found that she was unhealthily pale and sickly looking. "Alright, to the Hospital Wing we go," he muttered under his breath, swiftly walking through his office door and halting at the fireplace. He had decided to Floo to Madam Pomfrey, and spare Hermione the embarrassment of the entire student body seeing her Professor carry her through the halls. He balanced Hermione on one arm, and chucked some Floo Powder in the fireplace, stepped in, and yelled "Hospital Wing!"

As he exited through Madam Pomfrey's fireplace, soot on his robes, he was ambushed by said person, carefully levitating his sick wife onto an uncomfortable hospital bed.

"What did you do?" she asked frantically. She could fix her up in her sleep, but still needed to know what happened.

"She had some… anxiety over her class," he explained simply. Pomfrey gave him a wary glance, but got to work immediately. Hermione had gone unconscious, and was slowly regaining her colour.

"I'm not giving her any calming potions, they just make the after effects worse," she specified, speaking to Remus but looking at Hermione. "Is it alright if I keep her here for the rest of the day?" she asked.

"Of course, anything. But," he said as he checked his watch "I'm already three minutes late for my next class, so if you'll excuse me," he said, making his way back to the fireplace. As he reached it, he turned around and said, "Send for me when she wakes up." And with that, he was gone in a blast of brilliant green flames to rival Harry's eyes.

A/N: Okay, this chapter is extremely short because I haven't had the time to write more, but I promise I'll make up for it soon! This one was, again, filler in a way, but keep reading!


	14. Yet

Chapter 13

"Can I go now?"

"No, Miss Granger, for the seventeenth time, you may _not _leave the hospital," Madam Pomfrey replied shortly, earning a groan from Hermione.

"But I'm perfectly fine, really! Look, I can wiggle my nose!" she reasoned, practically screaming in Pomfrey's ear. She proceeded to wiggle her nose, just to prove a point. She had been stuck in the Hospital Wing for a good part of the day, and had missed all of her classes. To say she was brassed off would be an understatement. Hermione didn't understand why she would keep her so long, all she did was simply feel nauseous. Pomfrey rolled her eyes and sent a Patronus to Remus, telling him to "Get his backside down there immediately," and to "Control his wife." Remus had simply laughed and took his sweet time getting there, because he knew how pestering Hermione got when she didn't get what she wanted. He felt something hurl at him, almost knocking him over. It took him a moment to realize that the magnificent-flying-blob was actually Hermione.

"Happy to see you too," he chuckled.

"Get me out of here!" she demanded, ignoring his previous comment. He cast a look at a rumpled Madam Pomfrey, who looked like she had gone through several hurricanes. She grimaced in return and waved her hand at the door, and he took that as an OK. He laughed again, summoned Hermione's bag and wand, and led her out of the door with a silent thank you to the Hospital Maiden.

"Took you long enough," Hermione growled impatiently. It was like they had put her through a round of Crucio and made her spill her darkest secrets.

"Sorry, love, I would have come sooner if I could have," he lied. He had purposefully left her there for a long time, just for kicks. "Do you suppose we retrieve your homework from the day?" Hermione's face brightened instantaneously from the mention of school work, and she forgot why she was angry.

"Oh, yes! I probably missed so much, let's start with Charms," she said as she steered him into the Charms classroom.

They were almost finished making a round of the school, popping in at teachers and asking them for homework. Flitwick had let her off easy, saying that she was his best student and therefore needn't do any extra work except work on wand movements. Sprout had given her 6" of essay on the Mandrake root, which she could easily write in her sleep, as they had covered Mandrakes in their second year. McGonagall had given her reading work and a 10" essay on Animagi. Her other professors had told her to take a break, and gave her the day off. What Remus was most afraid about was Potions. He knew how nasty Snape could be, and he didn't want Hermione to face the consequences of the anxiety that his Snakes had caused.

There were three sharp, even knocks at the Potion's Masters door. Snape gave a grumble and called, "Enter." Hermione pushed open the door with ease, and walked nervously inside the Potions classroom. She had her hand clutched tightly around Remus's forearm, dragging him to doom with her. Snape didn't even look up from his papers, pretending that they weren't there.

"Excuse me, Sir," Hermione started warily. She wasn't scared of what he would assign her, just something about him made her want to run the other way.

"Miss Granger, I thought better of you. Skipping class willy-nilly is something I would expect from Potter or Weasley, and for that I will have to assign you detention," Snape said, still not looking up from his desk. Hermione's eyes bulged and her throat ran dry.

"Ex-Excu-" she started, only to be cut off by an angry Remus.

"What was that, Severus?" Remus growled, balling up his fists.

"I simply stated that Miss Granger would be serving a detention as a consequence of playing truant. Need I repeat myself?"

"Even for you, Severus, that's quite unfair," came an airy voice by the door. The three occupants of the room quickly turned and shifted their attention to the person speaking.

"Ah, Albus, care to enlighten me why you insist on pestering me twenty-four hours of the day?" Snape said harshly, appearing extremely annoyed. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled merrily and he ignored the Potion Master's accusation, instead focusing on the scene he saw.

"Good timing, if I do say so myself, but Miss Granger has no need for a detention." At this Remus looked triumphant. Snape must have been having an exceptionally bad day, because he snarled and Remus swore he heard him actually growl.

"If you insist," Snape submitted, waving the trio off with his hand. Hermione instantly scurried out of there, forgetting all about the homework that she came there for. Remus closely followed, grinning at no one in particular. It was Dumbledore who hung back, the cheery smile still plastered on his aged face. He suddenly turned his mouth into a deceiving frown, staring down at his colleague.

"Severus, you do know that I didn't come down here to simply bail Miss Granger out," he started gravely, and Snape's head snapped up to look at him. Thoughts of dangerous things and deaths flooded his mind. He was inwardly panicking, yet still had the facade of extreme annoyance painted on. He raised an eyebrow, motioning for him to go on.

"You haven't been making an appearance for meals in the Great Hall and I am here to escort you to dinner, which is happening in," he paused to look up randomly "Fourteen minutes." He switched his frown back into that sickeningly happy smile and walked through the door, halted and waited for the Potion's Master to follow. Snape groaned, 'Why must he put on an act? Can't he simply notify me, sans dangerous tone, and request me to be at dinner?' he complained to himself. He hated going for meals in the Great Hall. He preferred to stay in his private quarters, eating in silence with a potions making book in his hand. Snape reluctantly moved from his chair, leaving the unmarked essays sprawled on his desk. He swiftly walked through the door, warding it just in case some pestering Ravenclaw came for extra credit or a Slytherin or Gryffindor showed up, wanting to pull one of their stupid pranks. He strode through the corridor, not acknowledging the Headmaster and made his way to the Great Hall. Albus chuckled to himself and walked a steady distance behind him.

"Shall I pick you up at seven, Milady?" Remus asked, impersonating a Duke as he dropped Hermione off in the Great Hall at her saved seat between her two best friends.

"I shan't expect anything less," she replied, playing along with an exaggerated accent. He gave her a quick peck on the lips, and drew away only because of the fact that there were around 300 students watching his every move. He smiled at her and strode away, taking his seat at the Head Table.

"You missed classes today," Ron said, declared out the obvious. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Oh, really? I didn't notice!" she exclaimed, feigning panic. Ron seemed to catch the sarcasm and went back to shoving chicken in his mouth, eating as if he hadn't for weeks. Ginny gave a disgusted snort at her barbaric brother.

"How are you ever going to get a girl to date you like that?" Ginny asked, and her voice came to a halt as she noticed just who was sitting down beside him.

"Won-Won!" Lavender screeched, hugging him from the side. "I haven't seen you in forever!"

"Actually, you just saw him in Charms, which was less than four hours ago." Harry pointed out wisely, earning a glare from Lavender and another unladylike snort from his own girlfriend. Hermione kept her laughter to herself, deciding that she didn't want to seem like the jealous ex-girlfriend, which seemed preposterous but would definitely interest the daft Gryffindor girl. Ron was still scarfing down chicken while filling his plate with more.

'What's up with him and chicken?' Hermione wondered, observing his habits. Ginny was in a heated argument with Dean Thomas, explaining to him why she could not get back together with him and that he was annoying and a sore loser. Harry seemed to be thinking, like Hermione, and looking lonely.

"Harry, you okay?" Hermione asked, concerned. He was in the middle of scooping mashed potatoes onto his plate, but he dropped the spoon and looked at his best friend, a Marauder-worthy smirk on his face.

"Nice show up there, with you and Lupin," he said, struggling not to laugh.

"Shut up." Harry put his hands up in defeat, afraid of what Hermione might do to him.

"You two seem to be getting on well," he stated, looking from his professor to Hermione, and noticing that Remus had his eyes on her. He saw Harry staring and gave him a wink before returning to his half eaten plate, listening to McGonagall's ranting.

"Obviously, Harry. We _do _live together, you know, and it's hard to live with someone you don't see eye to eye with," she said, as if she were talking to a child. Harry experienced this regularly, and now knew this was the way she spoke to everyone. Harry raised his eyebrows suggestively, and continued speaking.

"So, have you guys, aside from your wedding night, done i-"

"Harry!" interjected Hermione, blushing from the inappropriate question. Harry smiled sheepishly.

"I was just curious, Hermione," he said, feigning innocence. Hermione believed his faultless charade, and stopped yelling at him.

"Well, in that case, no."

"No?" Harry asked, confused.

"We haven't," Hermione explained vaguely.

"I don't get it," Harry said. Hermione thought he was being extremely daft, and was getting very annoyed.

"DO I NEED TO SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU? NO, WE HAVEN'T HAD SEX SINCE OUR WEDDING NIGHT!" screeched Hermione, suddenly aware that her voice was so loud, the entire Hall heard it. She blushed profusely, and considered dashing from the room, but her Gryffindor side insisted that she sit down and brace herself. She was preparing herself for complete silence, and some outbursts, but all she got was laughing. They all seemed to think that she was kidding.

"Good one, Hermione!"

"Too funny!"

"She can sure let loose, once she's away from those books."

At these words, Hermione started to laugh. They thought she was making a joke, when in reality, she was telling the truth. Nothing intimate, except for snogging, had happened since her wedding night. She still didn't even remember it, but that's what alcohol did to you. The positive was, since she couldn't even find it herself, she doubted Snape could. She stole a glance at Remus, who seemed as red as she did, but still laughing. She noted that the laughter didn't reach his eyes, and planned to crack him and figure it out when they were alone within the next week. She smiled to herself and dug into her plate of chicken. She thought if Ron loved it so much, maybe she should too.

Dinner passed wonderfully, and everyone seemed to have forgotten Hermione's little mishap. She was waiting patiently at her seat, watching Remus say his good-nights to his colleagues. As he neared her, she stood abruptly, and immediately cringed.

"Hermione, are you alright?" he asked, holding out his arm to steady her.

"So much chicken," was all she could say before he, Harry, Ron and Ginny burst out laughing. Hermione had eaten almost as much chicken as Ron, and found that she really did love chicken. She wanted chicken every day. But not right now. Right now she had had enough of chicken. She shot her husband a glare, and her friends stood from the table to accompany them back to their private quarters.

"Lupin, you can go ahead, I need to talk to Hermione," Harry said, ushering Remus away.

"You know Harry, you should really stop calling me Lupin. I'm fine with Remus," he said, as he was in the midst of Harry pushing him through the door. He chuckled to himself and turned left, while Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny turned right.

"Hermione, have you two really not gotten up to anything since you got married?" Harry inquired.

"Dad says that once you get married, it's hard getting some unless you want kids," Ron interjected, sounding stupider by the second. He was silenced by a hasty "Shut up," from Ginny, and they all turned their attention back to Hermione.

"Well," she started, but stopped when she saw a movement in the corner. A streak of platinum blonde hair emerged from the side of the corridor. Hermione groaned.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" she asked, wondering why he wasn't with his usual cronies, Crabbe and Goyle. Harry seemed to be thinking along the same lines and voiced her thoughts.

"Where's your fan club, Malfoy?" Harry spat, gripping his hand around his wand. Malfoy was never a good sign.

"Simply to speak to Granger, here," he said, raising his hands to show that he wasn't armed.

"Well, talk, then!" Hermione said impatiently. Malfoy looked pointedly at her friends. Hermione cast a quick Muffliato, so they couldn't hear what they were talking about.

"I'm impressed, Granger," he said, smirking at the cries of protest. Hermione waved them off and turned back to him.

"Would you expect anything less from me, Malfoy?"

"No. But, I do want to speak with you. I'd like to formally apologize on behalf of myself and the other Slytherins," he said sincerely.

"Why?" Hermione inquired simply.

"Are you going to make me elaborate? Isn't saying sorry enough?" To this Hermione raised an eyebrow and put her hands on her hips. "Fine! I'm sorry for calling you a Mudblood and for being so rude to you these past years. The prejudice of blood is really all my father, you know, and since You-Know-Who is back now, I felt like I had to make that clear. But _don't _go repeating it to your little Gryffindors, or I will take all of it back." Hermione remembered what Snape had taught her about Legilimency, and how you could tell if someone was lying just by looking at their eyes. Wizards and Witches eyes have a midnight black ring around their irises, and it thins when they're lying, but grows when they're speaking the truth. Hermione found this extremely convenient.

"I believe you. Now, go away." She did believe him. His eyes were putting on a show of emotion and sincerity for her. Only skilled Occlumenses had the ability to control their eyes, but she doubted Malfoy did, as the only person she knew who could was Dumbledore. Snape didn't need the talent, as his eyes were black as death. Malfoy smirked and walked away, undoing the hearing spell she had put on her friends.

"MALFOY, YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Ginny yelled, outraged that they missed the whole conversation.

"What did he want, Hermione?" Harry asked calmly. He knew that he hadn't wanted to cause harm, just by the way he was holding himself.

"Oh, nothing. Just calling me a Mudblood, is all," she explained convincingly. Ginny and Ron instantly narrowed their eyes and were already plotting against him. They turned a corner to lead to her private quarters, and Harry repeated his earlier question.

"Well, we haven't really done much, except for kissing," she expressed, wondering why Harry cared.

"But, but I thought-" Harry sputtered. "You two look so cheery all the time! That kind of cheer only comes from a good shag, am I right, Ron?"

"No, you are _not _right," Ginny said, her loud voice overpowering Ron's. "It's a look of _loooove_," she sang, cackling with glee. Hermione's ever-present blush deepened, and Harry noticed.

"YOU LOVE LUPIN?" he shouted, and the portraits in the hall all started speaking in hushed voices. They looked scandalized.

"Keep your voice down, Harry! And no, I do not love him," she said, whispering a soft "Yet," to herself. Luckily no one caught it, because she would be in hot water if they did. How wrong was it that she was beginning to actually develop feelings of love for her forced husband? The kissing didn't matter, they were supposed to be putting on a charade to seem a little legitimate. Hermione would tell no one, but she secretly liked the kissing and all of the time they spent together, be it reading or just cuddling, she loved his company.

"Well, this is me," she said hastily, shoving her friends away from her and snapping shut her portrait before they could even comprehend what had happened.

"Honey, I'm home!" she sang, making fun of a Muggle TV show that her parents used to watch.

"What?" came a confused voice from the sofa.

"Never you mind," Hermione said, plopping down next to him. She groaned and clutched her stomach, bending over as if she had dropped something.

"Maybe you shouldn't eat so much chicken next time," Remus said, concerned.

"You think?" Hermione said sarcastically.

"I'll go make you tea," Remus said, and he got up and rushed to their kitchen.

'What's eating him?' she thought. He was acting extremely suspicious, and Hermione reasoned that it had to do with something connecting to his expressions in the Great Hall. She leaned back against the couch and started flipping through the book on Dark Creatures that he had left, and became engrossed in it immediately. She found new things that she had barely heard of, one of them called a Novaculus.

_"The Novaculi are dangerous creatures that reside in shady spots in forests and damp caves. Much like Devil's Snare, their weakness is to the light and heat. A Novaculus is composed of a state of blackness, neither solid or gas. It affects the mentality of those unlucky enough to cross it, and inflicts a physiological pain similar to a thousand knives piercing the skin. It uses this extended moment of weakness to feast on the victim's bone marrow. It leaves it's prey unable to move their joints without feeling extreme pain, this time physical."_

As Hermione and Remus drifted off to sleep in each other's arms, they were both dreaming of completely opposite things.

Hermione of the Novaculi she had read of, terrorizing people, and Remus of what he had overheard in the corridor that day.

_Remus had decided to go check on his wife and her friends, as it had been over half an hour since he had left them. As he was opening the portrait hole, he heard a hysterical laughter much like the deranged Bellatrix Lestrange. He stopped and listened, wondering what could possibly happen. He was inwardly panicking, until he heard something else._

_"YOU LOVE LUPIN?" yelled a voice that sounded just like Harry's. Remus visibly relaxed. It was just the kids. He was in mid-step when he suddenly came to a halt when he heard what was said next._

_"…and no, I do not love him," came a voice. Hermione's. Remus's heart dropped to his feet, and was backing into his rooms when he heard a soft whisper, too low for the human ear to make out. "Yet," Hermione breathed, and Remus felt something he hadn't for a while. _

All he could think of that night was the fact that his Hermione was falling in love with him. With him! An old werewolf! He couldn't believe his luck, and had a real, true smile on his face as he dozed off, burying his face in Hermione's now-tamed curls.

A/N: Like it? I do. I cut off my internet to force myself to stop procrastinating… -Bows head in shame-


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